Extendicare (TSE:EXE) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Extendicare Inc. (TSE:EXE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$35.62 and last traded at C$34.34, with a volume of 293212 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$30.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXE. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of Extendicare from C$24.50 to C$29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on shares of Extendicare from C$22.00 to C$32.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Desjardins set a C$34.50 target price on shares of Extendicare and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Extendicare from C$24.00 to C$30.00 in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of Extendicare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from C$19.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Monday, April 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$29.38.

Extendicare Trading Up 16.8%

The stock’s 50 day moving average is C$27.61 and its 200-day moving average is C$23.41. The company has a market cap of C$3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.85.

Extendicare (TSE:EXE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Extendicare had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 47.65%. The business had revenue of C$465.22 million for the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that Extendicare Inc. will post 0.6134729 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Extendicare Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.0441 dividend. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Extendicare’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.92%.

About Extendicare

Extendicare Inc, operating solely in Canada, is the largest private-sector owner and operator of long-term care (LTC”) homes and one of the largest private-sector providers of publicly funded home health care services.