Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) Price Target Raised to C$180.00

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from C$160.00 to C$180.00 in a research note published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on L. Scotiabank raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$148.27 to C$161.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. National Bankshares raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$156.00 to C$159.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Desjardins raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$157.00 to C$172.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. CIBC raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$159.00 to C$171.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$172.00 to C$186.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$176.43.

Loblaw Companies Price Performance

Shares of TSE:L opened at C$168.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41. Loblaw Companies has a 1 year low of C$110.52 and a 1 year high of C$171.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$160.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$150.90. The firm has a market cap of C$51.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported C$1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.70 by C$0.02. The firm had revenue of C$13.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$13.29 billion. Loblaw Companies had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 18.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Loblaw Companies will post 8.3923706 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Loblaw Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.513 dividend. This represents a $2.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Loblaw Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 5,500 shares of Loblaw Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$162.00, for a total value of C$891,000.00. In related news, Senior Officer Nicholas Henn sold 9,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$156.66, for a total value of C$1,476,488.46. Also, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$162.00, for a total transaction of C$891,000.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,929 shares of company stock worth $13,160,644. Insiders own 53.29% of the company’s stock.

Loblaw Companies Company Profile

Loblaw Companies Limited, a food and pharmacy company, provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparels, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services in Canada. It operates in two segments, Retail and Financial Services. The Retail segment operates corporate and franchise-owned retail food, and associate-owned drug stores.