George Weston (TSE:WN) Price Target Increased to C$235.00 by Analysts at CIBC

George Weston (TSE:WN) had its price target lifted by CIBC from C$222.00 to C$235.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WN. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on George Weston from C$200.00 to C$212.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Monday. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of George Weston from C$226.00 to C$227.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of George Weston from C$205.00 to C$212.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$185.00 to C$196.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, George Weston has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$216.67.

George Weston Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of WN stock opened at C$190.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of C$25.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. George Weston has a fifty-two week low of C$144.41 and a fifty-two week high of C$194.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$181.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$170.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 158.23, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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 business 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%. Research analysts forecast that George Weston will post 11.8758003 earnings per share for the current year.

George Weston Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a positive change from George Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. George Weston’s payout ratio is 26.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$183.27, for a total transaction of C$422,079.10. 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 transaction of C$422,079.10. Also, 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 value of C$1,814,055.00. Insiders sold 151,008 shares of company stock worth $24,350,724 in the last quarter. 58.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.