Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) Reaches New 52-Week High at $157.60

Shares of Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$157.60 and last traded at C$156.24, with a volume of 112059 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$154.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on L. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$148.00 to C$157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$159.00 to C$171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$168.00 to C$172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$130.00 to C$145.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$156.00 to C$159.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$162.43.

Loblaw Companies Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$149.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$134.89. The company has a market cap of C$48.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of C$14.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$14.58 billion. Loblaw Companies had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 3.53%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Loblaw Companies Limited will post 8.5138274 earnings per share for the current year.

Loblaw Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.513 per share. This represents a $2.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Loblaw Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Loblaw Companies’s payout ratio is presently 30.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Loblaw Companies news, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 4,603 shares of Loblaw Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$144.00, for a total transaction of C$662,832.00. In related news, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 4,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$144.00, for a total value of C$662,832.00. Also, Senior Officer Jeffrey Francis Leger sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$146.00, for a total value of C$1,460,000.00. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 71,495 shares of company stock valued at $10,547,163. Corporate insiders own 53.26% of the company’s stock.

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.