How to buy Royal Mail (RMG) shares

Royal Mail plc (RMG) is a leading integrated freight and logistics business based in the UK. It opened the day at 575p after a previous close of 568.6p. During the day the price has varied from a low of 568.52p to a high of 580.4p. The latest price was 578.8p (25 minute delay). Royal Mail is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and employs 177,047 staff. All prices are listed in pence sterling.

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How has coronavirus impacted Royal Mail's share price?

Since the stock market crash that started in February 2020, Royal Mail's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was 593.8p, which is 69.96% up on its pre-crash value of 178.4p and 399.60% up on the lowest point reached during the March 2020 crash when the shares fell as low as 118.856p.

If you had bought £1,000 worth of Royal Mail shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth £745.05 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth £3,055.34.

Royal Mail share price (LSE:RMG)

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Fees for buying 100x Royal Mail shares with popular platforms

Share prices fluctuate in real time, so the costs presented here should be considered as a guide only. They do not incorporate stamp duty. Always refer to the platform itself for availability and pricing – which may differ from our information.

Platform	Platform fee	Min. initial deposit	Trading fee estimate
	£0	$200	£0.00 £578.80 total	Go to site Capital at risk
	£0	No minimum	£0.00 £578.80 total	Go to site Capital at risk
	£0	£0.01	£1.83 £580.63 total	Go to site Capital at risk
	£0	£1	£11.95 £590.75 total	Go to site Capital at risk
	£9.99 per month	No minimum	£7.99 £586.79 total	Go to site Capital at risk
	£0	No minimum	£0.00 £578.80 total	Read review Capital at risk
	£36 per year	£20	£9.50 £588.30 total	Read review Capital at risk

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Is it a good time to buy Royal Mail stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Is Royal Mail under- or over-valued?

Valuing a stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge value.

P/E ratio

Royal Mail's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 8x. In other words, Royal Mail shares trade at around 8x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the FTSE 250 at the end of September 2019 (19.71). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

However, Royal Mail's P/E ratio is best considered in relation to those of others within the integrated freight & logistics industry or those of similar companies.

• Amazon-com (AMZN.US): 68.49

EBITDA

Royal Mail's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is a whopping £1.2 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Royal Mail's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

To put that into context you can compare it against similar companies.

• Amazon-com (AMZN.US): USD$57.2 billion

Royal Mail share dividends

• Dividend yield
• Forward yield
• Payout ratio

Royal Mail has recently paid out dividends equivalent to 1.94% of its share value annually.

Royal Mail has paid out, on average, around 16.39% of recent net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.81% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), shareholders could enjoy a 3.81% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Royal Mail's case, that would currently equate to about 10p per share.

While Royal Mail's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that the company is investing more in its future growth.

The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 28 July 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Royal Mail's dividend yield is perhaps best considered in relation to those of similar companies.

• Amazon-com (AMZN.US): 0.00% (does not pay dividend)

Share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Royal Mail's shares have ranged in value from as little as 160.7693p up to 611.6834p. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (LSE average) beta is 1, while Royal Mail's is 1.6454. This would suggest that Royal Mail's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

To put Royal Mail's beta into context you can compare it against those of similar companies.

• Amazon-com (AMZN.US): 1.1518

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Royal Mail in the news

Royal Mail plc (LON:RMG) Stock's Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Decent: Will The Market Correct The Share Price In The Future?

Signed-for deliveries under threat in Royal Mail shake-up

Royal Mail predicts online sales shift will be permanent

Frequently asked questions

• Where can I buy Royal Mail shares?

  Investors can buy and sell Royal Mail shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: RMG). This means anyone with a trading account that offers access to the UK stock market can invest in Royal Mail.

• Can I buy Post Office shares?

  The Post Office is still government-owned, so you can't currently buy Post Office shares. Following the Postal Services Act, the UK government split the Post Office and Royal Mail into separate entities, and investors were then able to buy stocks in Royal Mail. This means that buying shares in Royal Mail does not make you a shareholder in the Post Office.

• What percentage of Royal Mail is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.311% of Royal Mail shares are held by insiders and 70.594% by institutions.

• How many people work for Royal Mail?

  Latest data suggests 177,047 work at Royal Mail.

• When does the fiscal year end for Royal Mail?

  Royal Mail's fiscal year ends in March.

• Where is Royal Mail based?

  Royal Mail's address is: 185 Farringdon Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1A 1AA

• What is Royal Mail's ISIN number?

  Royal Mail's international securities identification number is: GB00BDVZYZ77