George Weston (TSE:WN) Upgraded to “Hold” at Scotiabank

George Weston (TSE:WN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Scotiabank to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$196.00 to C$220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$246.00 to C$242.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Desjardins upped their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$212.00 to C$232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$235.00 to C$254.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, George Weston has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$229.67.

George Weston Stock Up 0.7 %

WN stock opened at C$222.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 171.94, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.73. George Weston has a 52-week low of C$150.62 and a 52-week high of C$229.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$222.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$206.08. The stock has a market capitalization of C$29.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.42.

George Weston (TSE:WN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported C$2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. George Weston had a net margin of 2.06% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The company had revenue of C$14.09 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that George Weston will post 13.0245758 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alannah Elizabeth Weston sold 36,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$226.64, for a total transaction of C$8,355,124.15. In other news, Senior Officer Rashid Wasti acquired 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of C$21.34 per share, with a total value of C$32,010.00. Also, Director Alannah Elizabeth Weston sold 36,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$226.64, for a total transaction of C$8,355,124.15. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 9,400 shares of company stock valued at $202,958 and sold 54,419 shares valued at $12,242,452. Company insiders own 59.41% of the company’s stock.

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.