How to Buy JD Sports Shares UK

JD Sports Fashion plc is one of the UK’s fastest-growing sports-fashion retail brands. The self-titled ‘undisputed king of trainers’ is working hard to increase its market share in mainland Europe and North America too.

All told, JD Sports is cementing itself as one of the leading fashion and apparel companies listed within the FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange.

In my guide below, I’ll explain how you can buy, sell, and trade JD Sports shares in the UK today.

JD Sports (JD) share price

Below you can see JD Sports share price live, subject to stock exchange times and data update frequency.

6 Simple Steps to Buying JD Sports (JD) shares

There are six steps you need to follow if you want to buy or sell JD Sports shares. Each step is as important as the next, so make sure you take note of what to do at each stage of your journey with this company.

1. Pick a trading platform that suits you best

It’s best not to dive in with the first trading platform you come across. Each trading platform has its pros and cons. If you register with any random trading platform, you’ll run the risk of regretting it further down the line.

There are literally hundreds of trading platforms for UK-based retail investors to choose from. I’ve spent time reviewing and ranking the best trading platforms in the UK – you can view the results at the link above. My rankings are based on their cost-effectiveness, user experience, access to assets, trading tools, educational content, customer support, and much more.

First and foremost, make sure the trading platform you choose is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This ensures you and your funds are protected. It also means your broker must abide by stringent conditions that safeguard your data and the integrity of the financial markets.

2. Validate and verify your client account

Selecting the right trading account is just as important as the broker you choose. There are several account types on offer, each with their own pros and cons.

There are so-called ‘tax wrapper’ accounts like Stocks and Shares ISAs and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) allowing you to invest and generate returns free from capital gains, income, and dividend tax.

With Stocks and Shares ISAs, you’ll have a maximum of £20,000 that can be invested in each tax year. This is known as the ‘ISA allowance’. If you’d rather invest in JD Sports and other equities with no limits attached, consider opening a general investment account (GIA), which allows you to do just that.

Stocks and Shares ISAs, SIPPs, and GIAs are the sensible choice if you plan to invest in JD Sports shares for the medium-to-long term. This allows your returns to compound and enhances your investment portfolio.

However, JD Sports is one of several shares listed within the FTSE 100 index that has the liquidity for retail investors to day trade. This means taking small but frequent net profits by buying low and selling high. Share dealing accounts make it easy to buy and sell shares in equities at a low cost.

Alternatively, you may decide to trade the price action without having to own the underlying asset by using derivatives accounts. Contract for difference (CFD) and spread betting accounts allow you to take buy and sell prices, profiting or losing when the price moves in your favour or not.

3. Ensure your broker supports your ideal payment method

Make sure the brokerage you choose allows you to deposit and withdraw funds using the method(s) that suit your situation. Debit cards and bank transfers are typically the order of the day, with some sites also permitting deposits and withdrawals from and to mobile wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

One thing is for certain, the days of using credit cards to deposit into trading accounts are increasingly numbered. I’m hugely in favour of this, as no-one – beginner or experienced trader – should be borrowing funds at high rates of interest to invest in high-risk assets with no guarantees of a return on investment.

4. Locate JD Sports shares within your trading platform

Once your trading account is verified and loaded with funds to trade with, it’s time to find JD Sports’ share price page. The easiest way to search for JD Sports stock is to use the company’s ticker within the search bar of your trading platform. Tickers are also known as Exchange Price Information Codes (EPICs). JD. is JD Sports’ EPIC.

Type ‘JD.’ into the search bar and you should be able to click on the relevant page displaying its real-time price and recent price movements.

5. Keep tabs on JD Sports’ latest developments

Ideally, your trading platform will feature a string of trading tools allowing you to stay up to date with news and trading updates surrounding JD Sports Fashion plc. Some brokers partner with news feeds to bring real-time stories and releases to the screens of their clients.

Most trading platforms will also enable you to build a ‘watchlist’ of stocks. This will be a list of equities you want to monitor and wait for the best possible price to enter. If you’re interested in JD Sports, adding JD.L to your watchlist would seem like a sensible approach to me. Remember to use past performance for indicative purposes when you buy shares in a company, earnings, capital and cash available to the business are also factors to consider before you seal the deal.

6. Place your market order for JD Sports shares

If the price of JD Sports stock has reached a level that you’re happy to invest in, prepare to submit a market order. Load up its share price page within your trading platform and set how many shares you wish to buy. Market orders will take the best available price. You may also set a limit order, which allows you to become a market maker and define a price you want to pay for JD Sports stock.

When you’re trading the share price of JD Sports Fashion plc, I’d highly recommend managing your risk by setting stop-loss and take-profit orders. This removes the emotion from your trades, defining a maximum loss and target profit per trade.

How much does it cost to buy JD Sports shares?

The share price of JD Sports Fashion plc has been on a consistent upward trajectory over the last five years, returning more than 95% for investors between May 2018-May 2023. _[1]

However, 2022 proved to be its most challenging year yet. After reaching all-time highs of 233.40 (GBX) in November 2021, shares plunged in Q1 2022 as the war in Ukraine developed and inflation began to take hold. With operating overheads high, margins squeezed and consumers’ disposable income tightening, it was perhaps no surprise to see the JD Sports share price contract.

By October 2022, JD Sports stock had fallen to as low as 94.18 (GBX). JD Sports’ full-year 2022-23 results were disappointing too. Its pre-tax profit declined by 32% year-on-year to £441 million. This was partly caused by margins narrowing to 47.8%, as a result of the stubborn inflation that’s threatening to embed itself in the UK economy.

Investors were also encouraged to find annual revenues weighed in at an impressive £10.13 billion. This was substantially higher than the £8.56 billion in revenues generated the previous year. That alone suggests that if inflation can subside and gross margins eventually improve, the retailer should be on a more sustainable footing for growth.

With economists predicting inflation would return closer to the Bank of England’s 2% benchmark by the end of 2023 and into Q1 2024, the JD Sports share price recovered to highs of 186.65 in February 2023.

However, data suggesting core price inflation had increased rather than decreased in April sparked mass panic in the markets over the time it could take to rid inflation from the British economy. This uncertainty contributed to the price of JD Sports stock falling again to 150.55 (GBX) in May 2023.

Does JD Sports pay dividends?

Yes, JD Sports Fashion plc does pay dividends, although it’s not a notorious payer compared with some FTSE 100-listed companies. For the year ending January 30, 2021, JD Sports issued a final dividend payment of 1.44p per share. This was cut to just 0.35p per share for the year ending January 29, 2022, as the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic lingered.

For the year ending January 28, 2023, JD Sports Fashion plc declared a final dividend of 0.67p per share, building on its interim dividend to shareholders worth 0.13p per share.

Roughly speaking, I make JD Sports’ dividend yield 0.5% for investors. That’s substantially below the current industry average yield of 3.2% among other FTSE 100 equities listed on the London Stock Exchange. If you’re wondering whether JD Sports is a stock worth investing in solely for dividends, it’s probably not. Current three-year forecasts suggest the average dividend yield to investors will be 0.6%.

What’s the best way to buy or invest in JD Sports shares?

If you’re keen to buy or invest in JD Sports Fashion plc stock, there are various routes you can take to gain exposure to this leading retailer in branded sportswear:

Invest for the long term in a ‘tax wrapper’ account

If you want to buy and hold shares in JD Sports for the long term, consider a Stocks and Shares ISA or a SIPP to allow you to invest and generate tax-free returns over time. It doesn’t matter how much profit you make as it’s entirely free of income tax, capital gains tax and dividend tax.

There is a slight catch in that you can only invest £20,000 per annum. If you want to invest more, consider a general investment account.

High-frequency buying and selling with a share dealing account

Select a suitable share dealing account with low or no commissions, enabling you to buy and sell JD Sports shares quickly and cost-effectively to take advantage of fluctuations in the company’s value.

Using a CFD broker or spread betting platform

If all you’re looking to do is speculate on the price of JD Sports stock, consider using a CFD broker or spread betting platform to trade the price action. The price of JD Sports on CFD or spread betting platforms mimics the value of the underlying asset. Crucially, it also allows you to sell (short) the JD Sports price, so even if you think its shares will fall in value you can still profit from this scenario.

Spread your risk by investing in funds and indices including JD Sports

Rather than investing directly in JD Sports Fashion plc, you could consider buying into one of the many exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or indices that include JD Sports stock. JD Sports is listed in the FTSE 100 index, as well as the FTSE All-Share, the FTSE 350, and the FTSE 350 Low Yield.

In terms of the ETFs with the highest allocations of JD Sports shares in their respective funds, include the iShares STOXX Europe 600 Retail UCITS ETF, the First Trust United Kingdom AlphaDEX UCITS ETF, and the iShares Edge MSCI Europe Size Factor UCITS ETF.

How to buy JD Sports shares FAQs

Sources:

[1] Google Finance