North West (TSE:NWC) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of The North West Company Inc. (TSE:NWC) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as C$56.90 and last traded at C$56.90, with a volume of 32,250 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$55.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on North West from C$58.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$60.67.

North West Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is C$51.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$51.32. The stock has a market cap of C$2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.06.

North West (TSE:NWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter. North West had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 17.50%. The business had revenue of C$681.96 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The North West Company Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

North West Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 29th. This is a boost from North West’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. North West’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.16%.

About North West

The North West Company Inc, through its subsidiaries, is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 230 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, Alaska Commercial Company, Cost-U-Less and RiteWay Food Markets and has annualized sales of approximately CDN$2.6 billion.