AJ Bell (LON:AJB) Rating Lowered to Hold at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AJ Bell (LON:AJB) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has GBX 361 ($4.53) price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on AJB. Shore Capital restated a buy rating on shares of AJ Bell in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Berenberg Bank restated a hold rating and issued a GBX 370 ($4.65) target price on shares of AJ Bell in a report on Friday, April 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 390.25 ($4.90).

AJ Bell Price Performance

LON AJB opened at GBX 336 ($4.22) on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 7.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.47. AJ Bell has a 1 year low of GBX 241.60 ($3.03) and a 1 year high of GBX 345.36 ($4.34). The company has a market cap of £1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 1,976.47, a PEG ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 305.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 297.97.

AJ Bell Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 11th were paid a GBX 7.25 ($0.09) dividend. This represents a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 11th. This is a positive change from AJ Bell’s previous dividend of $3.50. AJ Bell’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6,470.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AJ Bell

In other news, insider Peter Birch sold 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 327 ($4.11), for a total value of £55,590 ($69,827.91). In related news, insider Simon Turner sold 27,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 308 ($3.87), for a total transaction of £83,982.36 ($105,492.22). Also, insider Peter Birch sold 17,000 shares of AJ Bell stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 327 ($4.11), for a total transaction of £55,590 ($69,827.91). Company insiders own 33.22% of the company’s stock.

AJ Bell Company Profile

AJ Bell plc, through its subsidiaries, operates investment platforms in the United Kingdom. The company offers AJ Bell Investcentre, which offers advisers and clients service, easy-to-use functionality, and a comprehensive investment range at competitive prices; and AJ Bell, an investment platform. It also provides Touch by AJ Bell, an investment platform which help advisers to streamline their businesses with investment solutions delivered and managed digitally on their clients' smartphones; and Dodl by AJ Bell, an investment app.