Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT) Sets New 1-Year High After Insider Buying Activity

Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The company traded as high as GBX 2,376 and last traded at GBX 2,371.15, with a volume of 13363 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,350.

Specifically, insider Alastair Judge bought 12 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 2,321 per share, with a total value of £278.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on JMAT. Berenberg Bank decreased their target price on Johnson Matthey from GBX 2,100 to GBX 2,050 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Johnson Matthey from GBX 1,800 to GBX 2,100 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Panmure Gordon reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 2,370 target price on shares of Johnson Matthey in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Johnson Matthey from GBX 2,200 to GBX 2,420 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Johnson Matthey from GBX 2,100 to GBX 2,300 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 2,248.

Johnson Matthey Trading Down 0.2%

The company has a market capitalization of £3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.72, a PEG ratio of 49,242.50 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 62.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 2,122.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 2,000.48.

Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported GBX 51.20 EPS for the quarter. Johnson Matthey had a net margin of 0.84% and a return on equity of 4.49%. As a group, analysts forecast that Johnson Matthey PLC will post 173.4112903 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Johnson Matthey

Johnson Matthey is a global leader in science that enables a cleaner and healthier world. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, they improve the function, performance and safety of their customers’ products. Their science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, pharmaceuticals, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet’s natural resources. Today more than 13,000 Johnson Matthey professionals collaborate with their network of customers and partners to make a real difference to the world around us.