Close Brothers Group (LON:CBG) Trading Up 5.9% – Time to Buy?

Close Brothers Group plc (LON:CBG) shot up 5.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 293 ($3.80) and last traded at GBX 292.80 ($3.80). 442,840 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,359,436 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 276.40 ($3.59).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Close Brothers Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Close Brothers Group from GBX 610 ($7.92) to GBX 600 ($7.79) and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a GBX 430 ($5.58) target price on shares of Close Brothers Group in a research report on Thursday, March 27th.

Close Brothers Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of £448.76 million, a PE ratio of 4.49, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 317.69 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 295.72.

Close Brothers Group (LON:CBG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The company reported GBX 30.90 ($0.40) EPS for the quarter. Close Brothers Group had a net margin of 7.79% and a return on equity of 5.78%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Close Brothers Group plc will post 66.0070671 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Close Brothers Group

In other news, insider Michael N. Biggs acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 288 ($3.74) per share, with a total value of £14,400 ($18,698.87). Insiders own 2.91% of the company’s stock.

About Close Brothers Group

Close Brothers Group plc, a merchant banking company, engages in the provision of financial services to small businesses and individuals in the United Kingdom. It operates through five segments: Commercial, Retail, Property, Asset Management, and Securities. The company offers banking services comprising of debt factoring, invoice discounting, asset-based lending; financing for SMEs, residential housing, transport, industrial equipment, renewable energy, motorcycle, used car, and commercial vehicle financing; insurance, refurbishment, and bridging financing, savings products for individuals and corporates, hire purchase, lease, and loan related services.