Amanda Blanc Sells 523,728 Shares of Aviva plc (LON:AV) Stock

Aviva plc (LON:AV) insider Amanda Blanc sold 523,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 555 ($7.19), for a total value of £2,906,690.40 ($3,763,193.16).

Aviva Stock Performance

Shares of LON:AV opened at GBX 560.40 ($7.26) on Friday. Aviva plc has a 1 year low of GBX 390.70 ($5.06) and a 1 year high of GBX 510.20 ($6.61). The stock has a market capitalization of £15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 68.87, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 522.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 492.47.

Aviva (LON:AV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 23.60 ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Aviva had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 3.52%. As a group, research analysts predict that Aviva plc will post 46.4942529 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aviva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of GBX 23.80 ($0.31) per share. This is an increase from Aviva’s previous dividend of $11.90. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a yield of 4.25%. Aviva’s payout ratio is presently 70.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aviva from GBX 615 ($7.96) to GBX 635 ($8.22) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “top pick” rating on shares of Aviva in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of GBX 585.67 ($7.58).

About Aviva

Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products.