George Weston (TSE:WN) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after TD Securities raised their price target on the stock from C$226.00 to C$227.00. TD Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. George Weston traded as high as C$188.08 and last traded at C$188.27, with a volume of 51039 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$185.50.

WN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of George Weston from C$216.00 to C$218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$213.00 to C$222.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of George Weston from C$172.00 to C$185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on George Weston from C$200.00 to C$212.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$208.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$183.27, for a total value of C$422,079.10. In other George Weston news, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of George Weston 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, Director Willard Galen Garfield Weston sold 79,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$144.88, for a total value of C$11,474,503.92. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,008 shares of company stock valued at $24,350,724. Corporate insiders own 58.21% of the company’s stock.

George Weston Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of C$25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 158.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$180.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$170.05.

George Weston (TSE:WN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported C$2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$14.70 billion during the quarter. George Weston had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 19.71%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that George Weston Limited will post 11.8758003 EPS for the current year.

George Weston Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.713 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. George Weston’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.49%.

George Weston Company Profile

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.