St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) Shares Down 13.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ) fell 13.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 1,243 and last traded at GBX 1,255. 9,472,512 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 29,336,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,449.

Key Headlines Impacting St. James’s Place

Here are the key news stories impacting St. James’s Place this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentators argue the sell-off may be overdone because SJP’s large adviser network, recurring fee income and client stickiness reduce near-term disruption risk; this view supports a potential rebound. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters: is this an irrational sell-off?
• Neutral Sentiment: The launch of Altruist AI (a low-cost, AI-enabled advisory/product platform) is a meaningful competitive development that raises medium-term margin and customer-acquisition questions for incumbents — but the precise commercial impact in the UK market is still uncertain. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: Investors sold SJP and peers on concerns AI platforms could commoditise advice, compress fees and accelerate disintermediation; that panic triggered a broader pullback across European wealth managers and knocked investor confidence in sector multiples. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STJ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,725 to GBX 1,726 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,160 to GBX 1,600 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,350 to GBX 1,375 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 1,475 target price on shares of St. James’s Place in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,590 to GBX 1,790 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, St. James’s Place has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 1,645.14.

St. James’s Place Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 1,432.92 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 1,343.35. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10. The company has a market capitalization of £6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23.

About St. James’s Place

We plan, grow and protect the financial futures of over one million clients across the UK by providing holistic advice-led wealth management, delivered exclusively by the Partnership, our group of more than 4,900 highly skilled advisers.

We offer an integrated client proposition, through which we provide financial advice, investment product wrappers such as pensions, investment bonds and ISAs, and offer our own range of investment funds and portfolios.