Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) Shares Down 9.8% – Time to Sell?

Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN)’s share price dropped 9.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 999 ($12.89) and last traded at GBX 1,039.38 ($13.41). Approximately 646,990,750 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2,485% from the average daily volume of 25,029,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,152.50 ($14.87).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Standard Chartered from GBX 1,170 ($15.09) to GBX 1,250 ($16.12) and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a GBX 970 ($12.51) target price on shares of Standard Chartered in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Standard Chartered presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 1,073.33 ($13.85).

Standard Chartered Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 1,149.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 996.55. The company has a market cap of £28.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.85.

Standard Chartered Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.79%. This is a positive change from Standard Chartered’s previous dividend of $0.09. Standard Chartered’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Standard Chartered news, insider Bill Winters sold 62,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,191 ($15.36), for a total transaction of £747,221.49 ($963,908.01). Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 144,361 shares of company stock worth $122,238,845. Insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

About Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. The company operates in three segments: Corporate, Commercial & Institutional Banking; Consumer, Private & Business Banking; and Ventures.