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 research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings 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 price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$84.25.

MRU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Metro from C$82.00 to C$84.00 in a report on Friday, July 12th. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on Metro from C$85.00 to C$88.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Cfra raised their target price on shares of Metro from C$76.00 to C$85.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Metro from C$77.00 to C$86.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Metro from C$75.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Metro Stock Performance

Shares of MRU opened at C$83.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 64.18, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is C$83.77 and its 200-day moving average is C$77.80. Metro has a 12-month low of C$65.43 and a 12-month high of C$87.22. The stock has a market capitalization of C$18.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.08.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported C$1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.35. The firm had revenue of C$6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.58 billion. Metro had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 13.74%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Metro will post 4.7104528 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. Metro’s payout ratio is presently 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.