Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of C$102.33

Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$102.33.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MRU shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Metro from C$111.00 to C$110.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. TD Securities raised shares of Metro to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Metro from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from C$105.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Monday, July 20th. National Bank Financial decreased their price target on shares of Metro from C$105.00 to C$102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, TD increased their price objective on shares of Metro from C$106.00 to C$108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th.

Insider Transactions at Metro

In related news, insider Alain Tadros sold 960 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$90.27, for a total transaction of C$86,659.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$537,287.04. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Simon Rivet sold 2,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$89.35, for a total value of C$236,777.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,807,103.75. This represents a 11.58% decrease in their position. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Metro Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MRU opened at C$89.09 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is C$90.38 and its 200 day moving average is C$91.39. The company has a market capitalization of C$18.64 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.11. Metro has a 12-month low of C$86.63 and a 12-month high of C$101.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 71.09.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported C$1.24 EPS for the quarter. Metro had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 4.00%.The company had revenue of C$6.97 billion for the quarter. Research analysts expect that Metro will post 4.8188614 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a $0.4075 dividend. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 22nd. Metro’s payout ratio is currently 36.94%.

About Metro

With annual sales of more than $22 billion, METRO Inc is a food and pharmacy leader in Québec and Ontario, providing employment to more than 97,000 people. Its purpose is to Nourish the health and well-being of our communities. As a retailer, franchisor, distributor, manufacturer, and provider of eCommerce services, the company operates or services a network of some 1,000 food stores under several banners including Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, Food Basics, Adonis and Première Moisson, and some 640 pharmacies primarily under the Jean Coutu, Brunet, Metro Pharmacy and Food Basics Pharmacy banners.