Metro (TSE:MRU) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$100.22 and last traded at C$100.07, with a volume of 547181 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$97.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRU. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Metro from C$98.00 to C$100.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Metro from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$92.00 to C$96.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Metro from C$98.00 to C$99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, National Bankshares boosted their target price on shares of Metro from C$89.00 to C$94.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$93.56.

Metro Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$22.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 62.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$93.63 and its 200 day moving average is C$89.76.

Metro Increases Dividend

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