Crest Nicholson Share Price (CRST): Live, Forecast & Analysis

The CRST.L share has quietly attracted attention from both institutional buyers and retail investors—but the numbers floating around the internet don’t always tell a consistent story. This piece cuts through the noise to give you a clear picture of where analysts actually stand, what the dividend picture looks like, and which numbers you can trust.

Market Cap: £160.19m · 52 Week Range: 59.70 – 198.50 · Avg Volume: 7,716,813 · Shares in Issue: 257,020,326 · Previous Close: 66.00

The key metrics below come from verified sources including MarketScreener, Investors Chronicle, and MarketBeat.

Is Crest Nicholson a buy or sell?

The analyst consensus for Crest Nicholson lands somewhere between cautious optimism and outright enthusiasm, depending on which platform you check. As of 23 March 2026, the ratings breakdown showed 3 Buy, 2 Outperform, and 5 Hold recommendations with zero Sell or Strong Sell ratings, according to Investors Chronicle. MarketScreener, which tracks 12 analysts covering the stock, reports an Outperform consensus with an average price target of 2.122 GBP—representing roughly 37% upside from 1.550 GBP.

Analyst ratings

Individual firm moves tell a more nuanced story. Investec analyst Aynsley Lammin raised the price target to GBP1.93 from GBP1.85 while keeping a Buy rating, per TipRanks. JPMorgan’s Rajesh Patki upgraded the stock from Underweight to Neutral, lifting the price target to GBP1.90 from GBP1.80—a meaningful shift given JPMorgan’s typically conservative stance. RBC went further, raising its price target to GBX 215 from GBX 205 and maintaining an Outperform rating on 2 February 2026.

At the more cautious end, Stifel sits at GBX 125 while Jefferies holds the high end at GBX 230, per MarketBeat. MarketBeat’s own analysis of 7 analysts shows a Hold consensus with an average price target of GBX 192.50—roughly 11% upside from GBX 173.

Pros and cons

Recent performance factors

The stock has traded in a 59.70–198.50 range over the past year, with the current price sitting closer to the lower end. The gap between Jefferies’ 230p target and Stifel’s 125p target suggests analysts disagree fundamentally about Crest Nicholson’s near-term trajectory. One factor working in bulls’ favour: an insider purchase at GBX 104 implies someone with direct knowledge sees value at current levels.

The pattern: investors willing to accept near-term uncertainty and a Hold-rated consensus may find upside, but the wide analyst divergence means conviction plays require looking past the mixed signals.

What is the Crest Nicholson (CRST) Share Price Forecast & Price Target?

Price targets for Crest Nicholson tell a story of disagreement, but the credible range sits somewhere between 150p and 230p. Eight analysts offering 12-month targets on Investors Chronicle set a median target of 181.50 GBP with a high of 230.00 GBP and low of 150.00 GBP. The median implies approximately 74% upside from 104.30 GBP last price.

Short-term predictions

Short-term forecasting varies by source. StockInvest.us places the 3-month forecast at 180.97p–220.10p, representing roughly 6.56% upside from current levels. However, the platform’s overall score rates the stock as a Strong Sell candidate with a negative score of -6.831—a more bearish read than the analyst consensus suggests.

Long-term targets

Longer-term targets cluster around the 180–215p range. RBC’s February 2026 upgrade to GBX 215 sits at the optimistic end. MarketScreener’s 12-analyst average of 2.122 GBP (212.2p) aligns closely with RBC. Fidelity’s data suggests a dividend decline from 0.125 GBP in 2024 to 0.025–0.03 GBP in 2025—potential headwind for income-focused investors that could pressure the share price.

Analyst updates

Notable recent moves include Investec raising its target to 193p, JPMorgan upgrading from Underweight to Neutral, and RBC lifting its target to 215p. The direction of analyst revisions has been positive over the past several months, with upgrades outnumbering downgrades. For investors tracking sentiment shifts, the JPMorgan upgrade from a position of bearishness to Neutral is particularly worth noting.

The implication: the analyst community has grown incrementally more constructive on CRST, though the gap between RBC’s 215p and Stifel’s 125p shows this isn’t a consensus trade.

What are Crest Nicholson’s future growth prospects?

Growth prospects for a housebuilder like Crest Nicholson tie directly to UK housing market conditions, mortgage affordability, and government planning policy. The company’s market capitalisation of £160.19m places it firmly in small-cap territory—meaning it can move quickly on good news but also faces elevated volatility risk.

Revenue drivers

Crest Nicholson’s earnings released 2026-01-29 showed EPS of GBX 7.80, with forecast EPS for the current fiscal year at 9.098 per MarketBeat. The expected earnings growth from 7.80 to 9.098 GBX represents roughly 16.6% growth—meaningful if achieved, though guidance dependency means actual results could diverge.

Market position

As a mid-size UK housebuilder, Crest Nicholson competes in a market dominated by larger players like Persimmon, Barratt, and Taylor Wimpey. With 257,020,326 shares outstanding and a market cap of £160.19m, the company sits toward the lower end of listed UK housebuilders in terms of scale—limiting resources for land banking and development capacity compared to sector peers.

Challenges ahead

The dividend picture highlights the challenges. After paying 0.125 GBP per share in 2024, the 2025 dividend fell to just 0.03 GBP per share—a 76% reduction. Forecasts for 2026 range from 0.025 to 0.04 GBP, suggesting dividend recovery remains uncertain. Income investors should factor this uncertainty into any yield expectations.

What this means: Crest Nicholson faces the classic small-cap housebuilder trade-off—potential upside from operational improvements, but elevated execution risk and a dividend that has already been slashed significantly.

Who are Crest Nicholson’s major shareholders?

Understanding who owns Crest Nicholson matters because large institutional holders can move the share price significantly through buying or selling programmes. The research notes indicate major shareholders data is available from MarketScreener and Investing.com.

Top institutional holders

Institutional ownership for a £160m market cap stock typically includes a mix of UK-focused funds, passive index trackers, and specialty small-cap managers. While the specific holder breakdown wasn’t fully captured in the verified facts, the presence of 12 analyst covers indicates meaningful institutional interest.

Ownership breakdown

The insider purchase by Gillian Kent—9,538 shares acquired at GBX 104 on 2026-03-23—provides a useful data point. At GBX 104, this represents approximately £9,919 in value. Insider buying at near-52-week lows can signal management confidence, though the relatively modest size means it should be read as one signal among many.

Recent changes

The research notes flag no specific recent institutional holder changes beyond the insider buy, but the absence of Sell ratings across all tracked analysts suggests institutions aren’t actively rotating out. For investors monitoring ownership changes, LSE shareholder notifications and annual report disclosures provide the most current picture.

The pattern: a stock with insider buying activity but no documented institutional exits—the baseline reading is neutral-to-positive on the ownership side.

What is the dividend yield for Crest Nicholson?

Dividend investors looking at Crest Nicholson face a complicated picture. The stock has slashed its dividend significantly while forecasts for recovery remain inconsistent across sources.

Current yield

Stockopedia reports a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 2.69% with total 2025 dividends of £0.03 per share. Per Fidelity, the 2025 dividend yield forecast stands at just 1.46%, down dramatically from 7.40% in 2024 and 7.83% in 2023.

Payment history

The dividend history tells a clear story of cuts: £0.170 per share in 2023, £0.125 in 2024, and £0.03 in 2025. The next pay date is 2026-04-24 per Stockopedia, with an ex-date of 2026-03-25 per Hargreaves Lansdown. The Q1 2025 ex-date was 2025-03-27 with payment on 2025-04-25 at 1.20p per share.

2026 dates

Investors seeking 2026 dividend projections face uncertainty. Analysts forecast anywhere from 0.025 to 0.04 GBP per share for 2026—figures that remain inconsistent. The most recent ex-dividend date was 2026-03-25 with pay date 2026-04-23 at £0.018 per share per Hargreaves Lansdown. The inconsistency across forecasts suggests dividend guidance from the company itself would be the most reliable signal for 2026 planning.

The trade-off: income-focused UK investors may find better yield stability in sector peers with stronger dividend coverage ratios, while capital appreciation investors may see the suppressed dividend as already priced in at current levels.

Is Crest Nicholson a buy or sell?

Returning to the fundamental question, the analyst consensus for Crest Nicholson lands at Moderate Buy with a median price target around 181.50 GBP. No Sell ratings, a recent insider purchase at near-52-week lows, and positive analyst revisions since February 2026 paint a cautiously constructive picture.

But the divergence matters. RBC at 215p versus Stifel at 125p represents an extraordinary spread, and the 76% dividend cut signals the company is managing through meaningful pressure. The tip that TipRanks outlier target of 4,234p is almost certainly a data error—treating credible analyst targets as clustering between 150p and 230p gives you a realistic range.