George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.82 Per Share

George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.82 per share on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a boost from George Weston’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

George Weston Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of WN traded up C$4.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting C$191.46. The stock had a trading volume of 60,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,160. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 158.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of C$25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$181.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$170.65. George Weston has a twelve month low of C$144.41 and a twelve month high of C$194.02.

George Weston (TSE:WN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported C$2.51 earnings per share for the quarter. George Weston had a return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 2.56%. The firm had revenue of C$14.70 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that George Weston will post 11.8758003 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$226.00 to C$227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of George Weston from C$216.00 to C$218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of George Weston from C$200.00 to C$212.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of George Weston from C$213.00 to C$222.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on George Weston from C$172.00 to C$185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$208.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at George Weston

In other news, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$183.27, for a total transaction of C$422,079.10. In related news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$181.41, for a total value of C$1,814,055.00. Also, Senior Officer Andrew Michael Bunston sold 2,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$183.27, for a total value of C$422,079.10. Insiders have sold a total of 151,008 shares of company stock worth $24,350,724 over the last three months. 58.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About George Weston

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.