George Weston (TSE:WN) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$239.81 and last traded at C$239.45, with a volume of 47588 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$238.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$242.00 to C$263.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of George Weston from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$240.00 to C$241.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$266.00 to C$264.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Desjardins decreased their price objective on George Weston from C$255.00 to C$251.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on George Weston from C$269.00 to C$268.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$251.42.

George Weston Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 372.50, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of C$30.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.54, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$224.12 and a 200 day moving average of C$224.32.

Insider Transactions at George Weston

In other George Weston news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$230.80, for a total value of C$2,308,031.00. Also, Director Willard Galen Garfield Weston sold 57,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$231.03, for a total value of C$13,275,441.29. Insiders have sold 67,963 shares of company stock worth $15,700,985 over the last 90 days. 59.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

George Weston Company Profile

George Weston is a holding company that operates through two subsidiaries encompassing retail and real estate. The first is Loblaw, the largest grocer in Canada, in which it has a 53% controlling stake. The second is Choice Properties, an open-ended real estate investment trust, where George Weston’s ownership sits close to 62%.