Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$204.88.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$225.00 to C$210.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$215.00 to C$234.00 in a report on Monday. National Bankshares upped their price objective on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$192.00 to C$207.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$206.00 to C$208.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Loblaw Companies from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$190.00 to C$215.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Loblaw Companies Stock Performance

Loblaw Companies stock opened at C$213.34 on Thursday. Loblaw Companies has a 1-year low of C$146.49 and a 1-year high of C$213.40. The firm has a market cap of C$64.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 166.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$191.26 and a 200-day moving average of C$185.69.

Loblaw Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.513 per share. This represents a $2.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Loblaw Companies’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard Dufresne sold 25,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$186.55, for a total value of C$4,809,847.01. Also, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 11,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$186.55, for a total transaction of C$2,109,706.39. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 141,456 shares of company stock worth $25,966,244. 53.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Loblaw Companies

Loblaw is one of Canada’s largest grocery, pharmacy, and general merchandise retailers, operating the most expansive store footprint in Ontario and maintaining sizable presences in provinces like Quebec and British Columbia. Key grocery banners include Loblaw, No Frills, and Maxi, while its pharmaceutical operations are the product of its 2014 acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart.