St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) Trading Down 13.4% – Time to Sell?

St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ) shares fell 13.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 1,243 and last traded at GBX 1,255. 9,472,512 shares traded 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 Stories Impacting St. James’s Place

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

• Positive Sentiment: St. James’s Place remains a large, established UK wealth manager with a market cap of ~£6.5bn and a P/E around 13 — metrics that could help it absorb competitive shocks and reduce long‑term downside risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentators argue the recent sell‑off may be an overreaction, calling today’s drop “irrational” given the company’s fundamentals and the time it will take competitors to scale AI offerings. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters
• Negative Sentiment: Altruist’s launch of an AI-driven wealth platform is being viewed as a direct competitive threat to traditional managers (including STJ), prompting investor fear about fee pressure and client outflows. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: St. James’s Place is leading a sectorwide decline among European wealth managers as markets reassess how quickly AI can displace parts of advisory and distribution, increasing near‑term volatility for STJ shares. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

St. James’s Place Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 3.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is GBX 1,432.92 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 1,343.35. The firm has a market cap of £6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, 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.