Metro (TSE:MRU) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Metro Inc. (TSE:MRU) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as C$86.63 and last traded at C$88.49, with a volume of 353482 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$88.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotia cut their price objective on Metro from C$103.00 to C$96.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Metro from C$110.00 to C$105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank cut Metro from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$103.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered their target price on Metro from C$101.00 to C$97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Desjardins lowered their target price on Metro from C$99.00 to C$97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$103.63.

Metro Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.30, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$91.32 and a 200 day moving average of C$95.28.

Metro (TSE:MRU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported C$1.11 EPS for the quarter. Metro had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 4.52%.The firm had revenue of C$5.11 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Metro Inc. will post 4.8188614 EPS for the current year.

Metro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. Metro’s payout ratio is presently 32.36%.

About Metro

Metro is one of the largest grocery retailers in Canada. With its 2018 acquisition of Jean Coutu, it also boasts a meaningful drugstore footprint. Noteworthy grocery banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, and Food Basics, while its pharmacies primarily operate under the Jean Coutu and Brunet trademarks. It utilizes an array of business models, but it most frequently acts as either a retailer, operating individual stores, or a franchiser, licensing its trademarks and supplying merchandise to franchisees.