Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) Stock Now Rated “Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$36.33.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MFI shares. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Maple Leaf Foods from C$36.00 to C$33.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Maple Leaf Foods from C$39.00 to C$37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a C$36.00 price target on Maple Leaf Foods and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. National Bank Financial dropped their price target on Maple Leaf Foods from C$36.00 to C$34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Ventum Financial cut their price objective on Maple Leaf Foods from C$39.00 to C$37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th.

Maple Leaf Foods Price Performance

MFI opened at C$24.50 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$26.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$28.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 97.47, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a P/E/G ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.26. Maple Leaf Foods has a 52-week low of C$23.35 and a 52-week high of C$31.87.

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported C$0.44 EPS for the quarter. Maple Leaf Foods had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 36.83%. The firm had revenue of C$1.02 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that Maple Leaf Foods will post 1.4334187 EPS for the current year.

Maple Leaf Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Maple Leaf Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Andrew Gordon Macdonald purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$26.78 per share, for a total transaction of C$267,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 72,200 shares in the company, valued at C$1,933,516. This trade represents a 16.08% increase in their position. 39.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Maple Leaf Foods Company Profile

Maple Leaf Foods Inc is a consumer-packaged meats company. It produces prepared meats and meals, fresh pork, and poultry and turkey products. The company also has agribusiness operations. These operations supply livestock to the meat products business operations. Its main markets are Canada, the United States, Japan, and China. The key brands are Maple Leaf and Schneiders, Maple Leaf Prime Naturally, Shopsy, Mitchell’s Gourmet Food, Larse, Parm, and Hygrade.