Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 418.57.

Several research firms have recently commented on MKS. Shore Capital Group reiterated a “house stock” rating on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Marks and Spencer Group from GBX 415 to GBX 480 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 425 price objective on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 440 price objective on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 435 target price on shares of Marks and Spencer Group in a research report on Thursday, May 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alison Dolan sold 85,000 shares of Marks and Spencer Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 359, for a total value of £305,150. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Marks and Spencer Group Stock Down 0.2%

MKS traded down GBX 0.91 on Tuesday, reaching GBX 383.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,370,550,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 52,807,129. The stock has a market cap of £7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.01. Marks and Spencer Group has a 1 year low of GBX 301.10 and a 1 year high of GBX 411.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 111.89, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is GBX 352.55 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 356.44.

Marks and Spencer Group (LON:MKS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported GBX 23.80 earnings per share for the quarter. Marks and Spencer Group had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 1.50%.The firm had revenue of GBX 1,727.36 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Marks and Spencer Group will post 26.0113154 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marks and Spencer Group Company Profile

M&S has a heritage of quality, innovation and value for money and has been voted the UK’s most trusted brand. From these foundations, M&S is reshaping for sustainable profitable growth and value creation.

We operate as a family of businesses, selling high-quality, great-value, own-brand products and services, alongside a carefully selected range of third-party brands. We do this through a network of stores and websites globally, and together, across our stores, support centres, warehouses and supply chain, our 65,000 colleagues serve over 30 million customers each year.