George Weston (TSE:WN) PT Raised to C$232.00 at Desjardins

George Weston (TSE:WN) had its target price boosted by Desjardins from C$212.00 to C$232.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. Desjardins currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WN. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on George Weston from C$196.00 to C$220.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on George Weston from C$200.00 to C$212.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. CIBC lifted their price target on George Weston from C$235.00 to C$254.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Securities cut their price target on George Weston from C$246.00 to C$242.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$229.67.

George Weston Stock Performance

TSE:WN opened at C$210.23 on Wednesday. George Weston has a 1-year low of C$144.41 and a 1-year high of C$217.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 159.31, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$200.70 and its 200 day moving average price is C$187.19. The firm has a market cap of C$28.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

George Weston (TSE:WN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported C$2.30 EPS for the quarter. George Weston had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 2.22%. The company had revenue of C$13.74 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that George Weston will post 12.1466667 EPS for the current year.

George Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. George Weston’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.64%.

Insider Transactions at George Weston

In related news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$190.21, for a total transaction of C$951,043.50. In other George Weston news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$190.21, for a total value of C$951,043.50. Also, Senior Officer Rashid Wasti sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$215.00, for a total value of C$709,500.00. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,607 shares of company stock worth $5,781,472. 58.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

George Weston Company Profile

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services.