Following the surprise revelation in February that international bookmaker William Hill was at a loss following an unprecedented week of fortunate decisions for its millions of clients, the downturn for the PLC appears to be continuing – with share prices continuing to fall now into the spring.
The company, which operates around 2,400 shops in the UK alone, though also hosts in the US, Spain and Australia as well as online, reported a loss on internal projections for the first quarter of 2015 based on the outcome of one week alone.
Still reeling from the shock downturn, this week the PLC did however have its previously immovable ‘equal weight’ rating reinstated by Barclays analysts as part of a report delivered to investors and clients on 9/4. With shares opening at 390.00 on Thursday, the group has a one year low on their hands with a GBX of 314.51 and a one year high of GBX 404.30- the target price on the stock stands at GBX 390 (approx. $5.82).
Recently announcing a dividend to be paid on Friday June 5th, the company, which has a market cap of £3.42billion, will pay stockholders of record GBX 8.20 ($0.12) per share on Thursday April 30th – representing a yield of 2.17%.
A wide range of analysts have contributed to the conversation regarding WMH this past month or so, with individuals at AlphaValue echoing a watered down GBX 391 ($5.83) price target on shares in the firm on April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co on the other hand upgraded shares to the plc to ‘neutral’ and increased target prices from GBX 355 ($5.29) to GBX 400 ($5.96); whilst HSBC analysts confirmed this neutrality and set their price at GBX 385 ($5.74) per share (target).
The saga continues and will no doubt yield some more interesting news when the markets re-open.
