3 FTSE Shares Hitting New Highs: NEXT plc, Admiral Group plc And Dunelm Group plc

NEXT plc (LON: NXT), Admiral Group plc (LON: ADM) and Dunelm Group plc (LON: DLNM) are soaring.

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The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) has been up and down a bit today — first up on positive updates from miners, then down on fears for the future of quantitative easing, and by mid afternoon it’s up again with financial shares on a rebound. All in all, the index of top UK shares is up 36 points to 6,592 as I write these words.

That’s still some way from its 13-year high of 6,876, set in May, but there are certainly a few individual shares reaching new highs. Here are three setting records:

NEXT

It’s not that long ago that the idea of retailers hitting new heights seemed far-fetched, but that’s what fashion purveyor NEXT (LSE: NXT) has been doing of late. Yesterday the shares touched on a 52-week high of 4,834p, and though they’re down a little from that to 4,770p today, the price is still up more than 50% over the past 12 months.

The firm has enjoyed double-digit growth in earnings per share (EPS) over the past four years, and there’s more of the same expected — City forecasts suggest a 10% rise for January 2014, putting the shares on a P/E of 15. Dividend yields are around the 2.5% mark.

Admiral

Motor insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) also reached a 52-week high yesterday, of 1,397p, before closing the day on 1,390p — at the time of writing, the shares are back from that a little at 1,373p. Over the past year, the price is up a bit over 20%.

Dividend-wise, Admiral is potentially offering one of the highest payouts in the FTSE 100, with a total yield of 6.9% forecast for the year to December 2013. But Admiral’s annual payment is unusual in that about half of it takes the form of a special dividend, so some caution is needed — but the firm has paid a special dividend every year since it joined the stock market in 2004.

Dunelm

Soft furnishings is looking like a good business to be in these days too, at least if you’re a Dunelm Group (LSE: DLNM) shareholder. The company, known for its Dunelm Mills outlets, has seen its share price reach a 52-week high of 1,047p for three days in a row now — and that takes it up more than 80% over the past 12 months.

In a year-end trading statement released at the start of the month, Dunelm revealed a 12.2% rise in total sales for the year to 29 June, and told us that profit margins are improving. Forecasts suggest a 13% rise in EPS for the year, with results due on 12 September.

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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.

Should you invest, the value of your investment may rise or fall and your capital is at risk. Before investing, your individual circumstances should be assessed. Consider taking independent financial advice.

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