Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$84.25.

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRU shares. Cfra boosted their price objective on shares of Metro from C$76.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Metro from C$82.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Friday, July 12th. National Bankshares boosted their target price on shares of Metro from C$85.00 to C$88.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Metro from C$82.00 to C$85.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Metro from C$77.00 to C$86.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Metro Stock Performance

Shares of MRU opened at C$83.30 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$83.68 and its 200 day moving average price is C$77.58. Metro has a 52 week low of C$65.43 and a 52 week high of C$87.22. The company has a market capitalization of C$18.54 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 64.18, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported C$1.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.35. Metro had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The firm had revenue of C$6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.58 billion. Research analysts expect that Metro will post 4.7104528 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. Metro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.76%.

Metro Company Profile

Metro Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer, franchisor, distributor, and manufacturer in the food and pharmaceutical sectors in Canada. The company operates supermarkets, discount, neighborhood, and specialty stores that provide fresh and grocery products, baked goods, prepared food products, meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, frozen food products, bakery products, delicatessen items, and pastries.