Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) Hits New 1-Year High at $24.40

Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$24.40 and last traded at C$174.75, with a volume of 121128 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$175.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on L. TD Securities boosted their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$172.00 to C$186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$160.00 to C$180.00 in a report on Friday, July 26th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$157.00 to C$172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$171.00 to C$189.00 in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, National Bankshares increased their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$159.00 to C$175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$176.43.

Loblaw Companies Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 163.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$168.09 and a 200 day moving average price of C$157.66. The stock has a market capitalization of C$53.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.17.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported C$2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$2.14 by C$0.01. The firm had revenue of C$13.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$14.07 billion. Loblaw Companies had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 3.46%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Loblaw Companies Limited will post 8.5218888 earnings per share for the current year.

Loblaw Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.513 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Loblaw Companies’s payout ratio is currently 30.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Loblaw Companies news, 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 value of C$891,000.00. In other Loblaw Companies news, Director Willard Galen Garfield Weston sold 296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$165.15, for a total value of C$48,884.02. 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 stock was sold at an average price of C$162.00, for a total transaction of C$891,000.00. Insiders sold 38,460 shares of company stock worth $6,037,349 over the last three months. Insiders own 53.53% 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.