George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of George Weston Limited (TSE:WN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$282.42.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of George Weston from C$251.00 to C$300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$264.00 to C$284.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$241.00 to C$285.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$256.00 to C$308.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, CIBC raised their price objective on shares of George Weston from C$268.00 to C$296.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th.

George Weston Stock Performance

TSE:WN traded up C$2.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting C$263.79. The stock had a trading volume of 130,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 137,630. George Weston has a twelve month low of C$186.22 and a twelve month high of C$273.19. The stock has a market cap of C$34.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.80, a PEG ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.42. The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$249.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$234.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 372.50, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$260.07, for a total value of C$2,600,739.00. Also, Director Willard Galen Garfield Weston sold 57,463 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$231.03, for a total transaction of C$13,275,441.29. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $90,780 and have sold 107,461 shares valued at $25,908,316. Insiders own 59.41% of the company's stock.

About George Weston

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%.