Insider Selling: J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) Insider Sells £1,960,000 in Stock

J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) insider Simon Roberts sold 560,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 350, for a total transaction of £1,960,000.

Simon Roberts also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 18th, Simon Roberts sold 346,154 shares of J Sainsbury stock. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 333, for a total transaction of £1,152,692.82.

J Sainsbury Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of SBRY stock opened at GBX 339.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of £7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.36. J Sainsbury plc has a fifty-two week low of GBX 293.70 and a fifty-two week high of GBX 380.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 338.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 333.60.

J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The grocer reported GBX 9.50 EPS for the quarter. J Sainsbury had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.15%. On average, analysts anticipate that J Sainsbury plc will post 25.72 EPS for the current year.

J Sainsbury announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, October 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase £100 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the grocer to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered J Sainsbury to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from GBX 390 to GBX 365 in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 375 target price on shares of J Sainsbury in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Shore Capital Group restated a “house stock” rating on shares of J Sainsbury in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of J Sainsbury from GBX 330 to GBX 346 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 356.

J Sainsbury Company Profile

J Sainsbury plc is one of the UK’s leading food, general merchandise and clothing retailers.

Offering delicious, great quality food at competitive prices has been at the heart of what we do since we opened our first store in 1869. Today, inspiring and delighting our customers with tasty food remains our priority. Our purpose is that driven by our passion for food, together we serve and help every customer.

Our focus on great value food and convenient shopping, whether in-store or online is supported by our brands – Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury’s Bank.