Softcat (LON:SCT) Shares Up 11.4% Following Dividend Announcement

Softcat plc (LON:SCT)’s share price shot up 11.4% during trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as GBX 1,710 ($22.20) and last traded at GBX 1,706 ($22.15). 7,701,057 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1,506% from the average session volume of 479,536 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,532 ($19.89).

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a GBX 39 ($0.51) dividend. This is a positive change from Softcat’s previous dividend of $8.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a yield of 2.55%. Softcat’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4,642.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SCT. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Softcat in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a GBX 1,250 ($16.23) price target on shares of Softcat in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Softcat to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from GBX 1,950 ($25.32) to GBX 1,490 ($19.35) in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Softcat has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 1,442.50 ($18.73).

Softcat Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.57, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of £3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 3,010.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 1,544.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 1,611.35.

Softcat Company Profile

Softcat plc operates as a value-added IT reseller and IT infrastructure solutions provider in the United Kingdom. The company advices, procures, designs, implements, and manages technology, such as software licensing, workplace technology, networking, security, and cloud and datacenter for businesses and public sector organizations.