North West (TSE:NWC) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

The North West Company Inc. (TSE:NWC) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as C$57.50 and last traded at C$56.95, with a volume of 28,639 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$57.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on North West from C$58.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, North West currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$60.67.

North West Trading Up 0.7%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$53.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$52.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.00, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of C$2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.06.

North West (TSE:NWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter. North West had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 17.50%. The company had revenue of C$681.96 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that The North West Company Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

North West Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This is a boost from North West’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 29th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. North West’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.16%.

About North West

The North West Company Inc, through its subsidiaries, is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 230 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, Alaska Commercial Company, Cost-U-Less and RiteWay Food Markets and has annualized sales of approximately CDN$2.6 billion.