Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$103.62.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotia dropped their target price on Metro from C$103.00 to C$96.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their price target on Metro from C$101.00 to C$97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank downgraded Metro from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$103.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Metro from C$110.00 to C$105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, National Bank Financial set a C$105.00 price objective on shares of Metro and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Metro Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of TSE:MRU opened at C$94.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$19.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.16. Metro has a 12 month low of C$86.63 and a 12 month high of C$107.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$90.89 and a 200 day moving average price of C$93.75.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported C$1.11 earnings per share for the quarter. Metro had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 4.52%.The company had revenue of C$5.11 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Metro will post 4.8188614 earnings per share for the current year.

Metro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. Metro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.36%.

Metro Company Profile

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.