Brokerages Set Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) Target Price at C$35.00

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$35.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upgraded Maple Leaf Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Maple Leaf Foods from C$32.00 to C$35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Ventum Financial set a C$37.00 target price on shares of Maple Leaf Foods and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their target price on shares of Maple Leaf Foods from C$34.00 to C$35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th.

Maple Leaf Foods Stock Up 10.1%

Maple Leaf Foods stock opened at C$30.96 on Friday. Maple Leaf Foods has a 1-year low of C$23.35 and a 1-year high of C$36.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$29.26 and a 200-day moving average price of C$27.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.30, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.28, a PEG ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.54.

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Maple Leaf Foods had a return on equity of 35.43% and a net margin of 11.76%.The company had revenue of C$962.85 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Maple Leaf Foods will post 1.4334187 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Maple Leaf Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This is an increase from Maple Leaf Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Maple Leaf Foods’s payout ratio is presently 21.41%.

Maple Leaf Foods Company Profile

Maple Leaf Foods Inc is a consumer-packaged meats company. It produces prepared meats and meals, fresh pork, and poultry and turkey products. The company also has agribusiness operations. These operations supply livestock to the meat products business operations. Its main markets are Canada, the United States, Japan, and China. The key brands are Maple Leaf and Schneiders, Maple Leaf Prime Naturally, Shopsy, Mitchell’s Gourmet Food, Larse, Parm, and Hygrade.