National Bank Financial Equities Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L)

Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) – Research analysts at National Bank Financial reduced their FY2024 earnings estimates for Loblaw Companies in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, June 25th. National Bank Financial analyst V. Shreedhar now forecasts that the company will earn $8.45 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $8.46. The consensus estimate for Loblaw Companies’ current full-year earnings is $8.39 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Loblaw Companies’ FY2025 earnings at $9.23 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Loblaw Companies from C$148.27 to C$161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Desjardins raised their price target on Loblaw Companies from C$148.00 to C$157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. CIBC increased their price objective on Loblaw Companies from C$159.00 to C$171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$168.00 to C$172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, National Bankshares upped their price target on shares of Loblaw Companies from C$156.00 to C$159.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Loblaw Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$162.43.

Loblaw Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Loblaw Companies stock opened at C$158.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.41, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of C$48.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.12. Loblaw Companies has a one year low of C$110.52 and a one year high of C$164.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is C$156.11 and its 200-day moving average is C$144.85.

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported C$1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.70 by C$0.02. The firm had revenue of C$13.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$13.29 billion. Loblaw Companies had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 18.96%.

Loblaw Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.513 dividend. This represents a $2.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is a boost from Loblaw Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Loblaw Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 31.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Loblaw Companies

In other Loblaw Companies news, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 14,840 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$157.00, for a total value of C$2,329,880.00. In other news, Senior Officer Kieran Barry Columb sold 13,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$157.12, for a total value of C$2,058,249.73. Also, Senior Officer Frank Gambioli sold 14,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$157.00, for a total transaction of C$2,329,880.00. Insiders sold 83,929 shares of company stock valued at $13,160,644 in the last quarter. 53.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Loblaw Companies Company Profile

Loblaw Companies Limited, a food and pharmacy company, provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparels, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services in Canada. It operates in two segments, Retail and Financial Services. The Retail segment operates corporate and franchise-owned retail food, and associate-owned drug stores.