St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) Trading Down 13.4% – Should You Sell?

Shares of St. James’s Place plc (LON:STJ) traded down 13.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 1,243 and last traded at GBX 1,255. 9,472,512 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 29,336,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 1,449.

Key Stories Impacting St. James’s Place

Here are the key news stories impacting St. James’s Place this week:

• Positive Sentiment: St. James’s Place remains a large, established UK wealth manager with a market cap of ~£6.5bn and a P/E around 13 — metrics that could help it absorb competitive shocks and reduce long‑term downside risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentators argue the recent sell‑off may be an overreaction, calling today’s drop “irrational” given the company’s fundamentals and the time it will take competitors to scale AI offerings. St. James Place share price dives amid AI disruption jitters
• Negative Sentiment: Altruist’s launch of an AI-driven wealth platform is being viewed as a direct competitive threat to traditional managers (including STJ), prompting investor fear about fee pressure and client outflows. St James’s Place, AJ Bell and other financial services giants hit by Altruist AI launch
• Negative Sentiment: St. James’s Place is leading a sectorwide decline among European wealth managers as markets reassess how quickly AI can displace parts of advisory and distribution, increasing near‑term volatility for STJ shares. St. James’s Place Leads European Wealth Managers’ Tumble on AI Threat

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,160 to GBX 1,600 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,350 to GBX 1,375 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of St. James’s Place from GBX 1,725 to GBX 1,726 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 1,475 price target on shares of St. James’s Place in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on St. James’s Place from GBX 1,590 to GBX 1,790 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 1,645.14.

St. James’s Place Stock Down 13.4%

The company’s 50-day moving average price is GBX 1,432.92 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 1,343.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.10, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of £6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23.

St. James’s Place Company Profile

We plan, grow and protect the financial futures of over one million clients across the UK by providing holistic advice-led wealth management, delivered exclusively by the Partnership, our group of more than 4,900 highly skilled advisers.

We offer an integrated client proposition, through which we provide financial advice, investment product wrappers such as pensions, investment bonds and ISAs, and offer our own range of investment funds and portfolios.