Beazley (LON:BEZ) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Beazley plc (LON:BEZ) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as GBX 926.50 ($11.98) and last traded at GBX 926 ($11.97), with a volume of 14019370 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 916.54 ($11.85).

Beazley Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 859.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 811.38. The stock has a market cap of £7.06 billion, a PE ratio of 5.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.68.

Beazley (LON:BEZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported GBX 137 ($1.77) EPS for the quarter. Beazley had a return on equity of 32.60% and a net margin of 22.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Beazley plc will post 101.6172507 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Beazley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of GBX 25 ($0.32) per share. This is a positive change from Beazley’s previous dividend of $14.20. This represents a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Beazley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Beazley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 4th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Adrian Cox sold 27,772 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 902 ($11.66), for a total value of £250,503.44 ($323,898.94). Insiders own 2.31% of the company’s stock.

Beazley Company Profile

Beazley plc provides risk insurance and reinsurance solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through Cyber Risks, Digital, MAP Risks, Property Risks, and Specialty Risks segments. The Cyber Risk segment underwrites cyber and technology risks.