Analysts Set Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Price Target at C$93.56

Shares of Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$93.56.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut Metro from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Metro from C$85.00 to C$95.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. National Bankshares upped their target price on shares of Metro from C$89.00 to C$94.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Metro from C$98.00 to C$99.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Metro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from C$92.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Metro Stock Performance

MRU stock opened at C$92.50 on Friday. Metro has a 12-month low of C$68.12 and a 12-month high of C$94.86. The firm has a market cap of C$20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 64.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$91.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$87.01.

Metro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Metro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Metro’s payout ratio is presently 32.76%.

About Metro

Metro Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer, franchisor, distributor, and manufacturer in the food and pharmaceutical sectors in Canada. The company operates supermarkets, discount, neighborhood, and specialty stores that provide fresh and grocery products, baked goods, prepared food products, meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, frozen food products, bakery products, delicatessen items, and pastries.