Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) PT Raised to C$161.00 at Scotiabank

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from C$148.27 to C$161.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.18% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on L. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$130.00 to C$145.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. CIBC increased their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$159.00 to C$171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Securities increased their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$150.00 to C$160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$170.00 to C$172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, National Bankshares increased their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$156.00 to C$159.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Loblaw Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$160.71.

Loblaw Companies Stock Performance

L traded up C$1.70 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching C$154.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 137,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,916. Loblaw Companies has a 52 week low of C$110.52 and a 52 week high of C$155.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$149.05 and its 200-day moving average is C$133.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of C$47.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported C$2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of C$14.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$14.58 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Loblaw Companies will post 8.4881297 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Loblaw Companies

In other Loblaw Companies news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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, Director Willard Galen Garfield Weston sold 13,354 shares of Loblaw Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$145.84, for a total transaction of C$1,947,558.04. Also, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of C$1,500,000.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,495 shares of company stock worth $10,547,163. 52.69% of the stock is owned by company 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.