North West (TSE:NWC) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

The North West Company Inc. (TSE:NWC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as C$56.90 and last traded at C$56.90, with a volume of 32,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$55.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on North West from C$58.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$60.67.

North West Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.00, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$51.41 and its 200 day moving average is C$51.32. The company has a market cap of C$2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.06.

North West (TSE:NWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share for the quarter. North West had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 5.40%. The company had revenue of C$681.96 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that The North West Company Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

North West Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from North West’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 29th. North West’s payout ratio is currently 56.16%.

About North West

The North West Company Inc, through its subsidiaries, is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 230 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, Alaska Commercial Company, Cost-U-Less and RiteWay Food Markets and has annualized sales of approximately CDN$2.6 billion.