George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$201.00.

A number of research firms have issued reports on WN. CIBC increased their target price on George Weston from C$213.00 to C$222.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on George Weston from C$216.00 to C$218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on George Weston from C$172.00 to C$185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on George Weston from C$205.00 to C$215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th.

George Weston Stock Down 0.6 %

TSE:WN opened at C$175.84 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$178.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$166.62. George Weston has a 52-week low of C$144.41 and a 52-week high of C$187.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 158.23, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of C$23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

George Weston (TSE:WN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported C$2.51 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$14.70 billion for the quarter. George Weston had a return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 2.56%. On average, analysts anticipate that George Weston will post 11.876494 EPS for the current year.

George Weston Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.713 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. George Weston’s payout ratio is presently 26.51%.

Insider Transactions at George Weston

In other news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of George Weston stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$181.41, for a total transaction of C$1,814,055.00. In related news, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$183.27, for a total value of C$422,079.10. Also, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$181.41, for a total transaction of C$1,814,055.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 151,008 shares of company stock worth $24,350,724. Company insiders own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

About George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services.