Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$103.63.

A number of research firms have commented on MRU. Scotia dropped their price target on shares of Metro from C$103.00 to C$96.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Metro from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$103.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Metro from C$118.00 to C$113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped their target price on shares of Metro from C$101.00 to C$97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Metro from C$110.00 to C$105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Metro Stock Up 0.6%

MRU stock opened at C$87.95 on Thursday. Metro has a 52 week low of C$87.12 and a 52 week high of C$109.20. The company has a market capitalization of C$18.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$91.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$95.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.30.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported C$1.11 EPS for the quarter. Metro had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 14.38%. The company had revenue of C$5.11 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Metro will post 4.8188614 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.4075 dividend. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. Metro’s payout ratio is presently 32.36%.

Metro Company Profile

Metro is one of the largest grocery retailers in Canada. With its 2018 acquisition of Jean Coutu, it also boasts a meaningful drugstore footprint. Noteworthy grocery banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, and Food Basics, while its pharmacies primarily operate under the Jean Coutu and Brunet trademarks. It utilizes an array of business models, but it most frequently acts as either a retailer, operating individual stores, or a franchiser, licensing its trademarks and supplying merchandise to franchisees.