London, June 25, 2026, 15:14 (BST)
- Shares up 1.3% at around 4,841 pence, building a two-day advance of 4.0%
- Three non-execs picked up £45,689 in shares at an average price of £46.29.
- Price is still 0.3% under the last buyback tranche’s £48.55 average
- Stock dropped 20.5% for 2026 through Wednesday
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RKT) climbed 1.3% to around 4,841 pence late Thursday. The stock is up 4.0% over two sessions. That put it about 3 percentage points ahead of the FTSE 100 since Wednesday.
Non-executive directors Deepak Nath, Harry Kirsch and Pat Verduin bought 987 shares on June 23 at a weighted average of £46.29 each, the company said in a filing published Thursday. The group spent £45,689.35 for the lot. As of Thursday’s trading, that stake was valued around £47,781, up about £2,100 on paper.
Directors stepped in at a small cash cost, but set a new benchmark for investors. They bought shares for 4.7% less than the £48.55 average paid in the last round of Reckitt’s £1 billion buyback. Reckitt picked up 11.12 million shares in that tranche, closing the programme on June 15. Shares were still trading 0.3% under that tranche’s average on Thursday. Reckitt said it will give an update about any new buyback with its half-year results.
Reckitt shares have fallen 20.51% this year, according to FTSE Russell numbers through Wednesday, putting the stock 25.56 percentage points behind the FTSE 350. Shares traded 14.1% below their 200-day moving average. Reckitt changed hands at 12.6 times trailing earnings, under its five-year median of 17.5. The dividend yield hit 4.32%, above the five-year median of 3.31%. Both of those reference points come as the stock has dropped around one-fifth of its value this year.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is still facing legal risk from about 1,000 lawsuits tied to preterm infant formula. On June 23, a Missouri appeals court rejected Abbott’s attempt to send a $495 million verdict appeal up to the state Supreme Court. Abbott said it would appeal directly. The company and Reckitt’s Mead Johnson unit are both targeted in similar lawsuits, with over 700 cases grouped together in federal court in Illinois.
Reckitt got a boost on June 15 after an Illinois appeals court tossed a $60 million verdict against Mead Johnson and said the company gets a new trial. The decision said jurors got the wrong instructions about who Mead Johnson had to warn.
Reckitt’s first-quarter numbers were tough to beat. Core Reckitt like-for-like revenue grew 1.3%, with total growth including Mead Johnson only 0.6%. Group volume dropped 2%. Mead Johnson revenue fell 2.7%. Reckitt kept its full-year core growth target at 4%-5%. “We maintain our LFL net revenue guidance for 2026,” said CEO Kris Licht. Investegate
UBS Group AG (SWX:UBSG) saw first-quarter group growth trailing by about 100 basis points versus the consensus forecast of 1.6%, analyst Guillaume Delmas said. Core growth also missed, coming in under the 2.9% consensus. Hargreaves Lansdown plc (LON:HL) analyst Aarin Chiekrie said “full-year guidance still looks achievable” but pointed out new products will have to deliver. Proactiveinvestors UK
Licht told Reuters on June 16, “We’re really just at the beginning of seeing all that come through and affect the consumer.” Input prices will probably stay under pressure for another year, he said, but demand for self-care products is steady. Reuters
Reckitt has a mean “outperform” call from 19 analysts, with the average price target at £61.82 and the low at £51.79. That lines up with possible gains of roughly 28% and 7% from Thursday’s share price. The company’s half-year results and investor day land July 29. MarketScreener
