Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) Given New C$159.00 Price Target at National Bankshares

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) had its price objective boosted by analysts at National Bankshares from C$156.00 to C$159.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. National Bankshares’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.89% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on L. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$150.00 to C$160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$146.00 to C$148.27 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$170.00 to C$172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$148.00 to C$157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$150.00 to C$149.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$160.71.

Loblaw Companies Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:L traded up C$1.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting C$154.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 137,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,916. The stock has a market capitalization of C$47.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$149.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$133.58. Loblaw Companies has a fifty-two week low of C$110.52 and a fifty-two week high of C$155.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported C$2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.92 by C$0.08. Loblaw Companies had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 3.53%. The company had revenue of C$14.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$14.58 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Loblaw Companies will post 8.4881297 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Loblaw Companies news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$150.00, for a total transaction of C$1,500,000.00. In other Loblaw Companies news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$150.00, for a total value of C$1,500,000.00. Also, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 4,603 shares of Loblaw Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$144.00, for a total value of C$662,832.00. Insiders have sold 71,495 shares of company stock valued at $10,547,163 in the last 90 days. 52.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Loblaw Companies

Loblaw Companies Limited, a food and pharmacy company, provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparels, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services in Canada. It operates in two segments, Retail and Financial Services. The Retail segment operates corporate and franchise-owned retail food, and associate-owned drug stores.