Shore Capital Group Downgrades Close Brothers Group (LON:CBG) to Hold

Close Brothers Group (LON:CBG) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Shore Capital Group to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a GBX 475 price target on the stock. Shore Capital Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.77% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded Close Brothers Group to a “buy” rating and set a GBX 555 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Close Brothers Group from GBX 550 to GBX 570 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Close Brothers Group to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from GBX 475 to GBX 625 in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 500.63.

Close Brothers Group Trading Down 4.4%

Close Brothers Group stock opened at GBX 421.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of £634.10 million, a PE ratio of -11.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. Close Brothers Group has a 12 month low of GBX 272 and a 12 month high of GBX 563.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 442.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 461.28.

Close Brothers Group (LON:CBG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported GBX 27.10 EPS for the quarter. Close Brothers Group had a negative return on equity of 2.03% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. As a group, analysts predict that Close Brothers Group will post 66.0070671 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mike Morgan acquired 2,841 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 507 per share, for a total transaction of £14,403.87. 2.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Close Brothers Group

Close Brothers Group plc, a merchant banking company, engages in the provision of financial services to small businesses and individuals in the United Kingdom. It operates through five segments: Commercial, Retail, Property, Asset Management, and Securities. The company offers banking services comprising of debt factoring, invoice discounting, asset-based lending; financing for SMEs, residential housing, transport, industrial equipment, renewable energy, motorcycle, used car, and commercial vehicle financing; insurance, refurbishment, and bridging financing, savings products for individuals and corporates, hire purchase, lease, and loan related services.