Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$106.25.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRU. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Metro from C$112.00 to C$113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Metro from C$115.00 to C$110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Metro from C$107.00 to C$106.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Metro from C$110.00 to C$103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered their price objective on shares of Metro from C$105.00 to C$101.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metro

In other news, insider Dan Gabbard sold 2,978 shares of Metro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$96.67, for a total value of C$287,883.26. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,193,294.48. The trade was a 19.44% decrease in their position. Also, insider Paolo Bravi sold 2,430 shares of Metro stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$91.46, for a total transaction of C$222,247.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,730 shares in the company, valued at C$1,804,505.80. This represents a 10.97% decrease in their position. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,844 shares of company stock worth $1,096,119. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Metro Stock Down 0.3%

Metro stock opened at C$96.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$95.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$96.32. Metro has a 52 week low of C$89.64 and a 52 week high of C$109.20.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The company reported C$1.16 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$5.29 billion for the quarter. Metro had a net margin of 4.44% and a return on equity of 13.93%. On average, analysts expect that Metro will post 4.8188614 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metro Company Profile

Metro is one of the largest grocery retailers in Canada. With its 2018 acquisition of Jean Coutu, it also boasts a meaningful drugstore footprint. Noteworthy grocery banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, and Food Basics, while its pharmacies primarily operate under the Jean Coutu and Brunet trademarks. It utilizes an array of business models, but it most frequently acts as either a retailer, operating individual stores, or a franchiser, licensing its trademarks and supplying merchandise to franchisees.