Metro (TSE:MRU) Share Price Passes Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$95.10 and traded as low as C$92.38. Metro shares last traded at C$94.16, with a volume of 641,688 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRU has been the subject of several research reports. National Bank Financial reduced their target price on shares of Metro from C$106.00 to C$105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut their price target on Metro from C$101.00 to C$97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Metro from C$110.00 to C$105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Desjardins decreased their price objective on Metro from C$99.00 to C$97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Metro from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$103.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Metro presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$103.63.

Metro Trading Up 1.9%

The company has a 50 day moving average of C$91.16 and a 200 day moving average of C$95.10. The firm has a market cap of C$19.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.30.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported C$1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Metro had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 4.52%.The company had revenue of C$5.11 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Metro Inc. will post 4.8188614 EPS for the current year.

Metro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. Metro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.36%.

About Metro

Metro is one of the largest grocery retailers in Canada. With its 2018 acquisition of Jean Coutu, it also boasts a meaningful drugstore footprint. Noteworthy grocery banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, and Food Basics, while its pharmacies primarily operate under the Jean Coutu and Brunet trademarks. It utilizes an array of business models, but it most frequently acts as either a retailer, operating individual stores, or a franchiser, licensing its trademarks and supplying merchandise to franchisees.