Essentra (LON:ESNT) Sets New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Essentra plc (LON:ESNT)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 98.70 ($1.28) and last traded at GBX 99.54 ($1.29), with a volume of 849742 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 100.80 ($1.30).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Berenberg Bank restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 170 ($2.20) target price on shares of Essentra in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th.

Essentra Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of £286.10 million, a PE ratio of 82.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 51.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 116.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 134.33.

Essentra (LON:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported GBX 8.50 ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter. Essentra had a return on equity of 1.28% and a net margin of 1.13%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essentra plc will post 524.137931 earnings per share for the current year.

Essentra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of GBX 1.55 ($0.02) per share. This is an increase from Essentra’s previous dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.41%. Essentra’s dividend payout ratio is 329.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essentra

In other news, insider Steve Good purchased 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 109 ($1.41) per share, for a total transaction of £38,150 ($49,321.27). Also, insider Rowan Baker purchased 10,036 shares of Essentra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 104 ($1.34) per share, with a total value of £10,437.44 ($13,493.78). 0.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Essentra