Diploma (LON:DPLM) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Diploma PLC (LON:DPLM) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from GBX 6,000 to GBX 6,200. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Diploma traded as high as GBX 5,760 and last traded at GBX 5,705, with a volume of 1768994 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 5,600.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 6,150 price objective on shares of Diploma in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Diploma to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from GBX 4,500 to GBX 6,000 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 6,350 price target on shares of Diploma in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diploma currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 5,634.29.

Insider Transactions at Diploma

In other news, insider Katie Bickerstaffe bought 352 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 5,645 per share, for a total transaction of £19,870.40. Also, insider Ian El-Mokadem bought 500 shares of Diploma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 5,615 per share, with a total value of £28,075. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,012 shares of company stock valued at $9,993,580. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Diploma Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 5,411.02 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 5,351.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 62.17, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 2.17. The company has a market cap of £7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.75.

Diploma (LON:DPLM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 8th. The company reported GBX 176 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Diploma had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 13.18%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Diploma PLC will post 163.7995512 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Diploma

Diploma PLC, together with its subsidiaries, supplies specialized technical products and services in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, North America, and internationally. It operates through three business sectors: Life Sciences, Seals, and Controls. The Life Sciences sector supplies technology-enabled products used in surgical procedures in operating theatres and endoscopy; testing equipment and services for clinical laboratories; and bio-pharma, food safety and testing, and other research-oriented products.