Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) Price Target Increased to C$159.00 by Analysts at National Bankshares

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) had its price target lifted by National Bankshares from C$156.00 to C$159.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on L. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$148.00 to C$157.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$150.00 to C$149.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$170.00 to C$172.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Loblaw Companies from C$146.00 to C$148.27 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Loblaw Companies from C$150.00 to C$160.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$162.43.

Loblaw Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

TSE L opened at C$153.93 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$149.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$134.28. Loblaw Companies has a twelve month low of C$110.52 and a twelve month high of C$155.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41. The company has a market capitalization of C$47.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported C$2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.92 by C$0.08. The company had revenue of C$14.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$14.58 billion. Loblaw Companies had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 3.53%. Research analysts forecast that Loblaw Companies will post 8.5138274 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Loblaw Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.513 per share. This is a positive change from Loblaw Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Loblaw Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$150.00, for a total transaction of C$1,500,000.00. In other news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of Loblaw Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$150.00, for a total transaction of C$1,500,000.00. Also, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 4,603 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$144.00, for a total transaction of C$662,832.00. Insiders have sold 71,495 shares of company stock valued at $10,547,163 over the last ninety days. 53.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Loblaw Companies

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.