National Bankshares Issues Positive Forecast for Metro (TSE:MRU) Stock Price

Metro (TSE:MRU) had its price objective boosted by National Bankshares from C$94.00 to C$102.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Metro from C$98.00 to C$100.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Metro from C$98.00 to C$99.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Metro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$92.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$94.44.

Metro Price Performance

Metro stock opened at C$101.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$22.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.08. Metro has a 12-month low of C$69.19 and a 12-month high of C$101.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$94.04 and a 200-day moving average price of C$89.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 62.29.

Metro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is an increase from Metro’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Metro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.93%.

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.