Desjardins Upgrades Pet Valu (TSE:PET) to Moderate Buy

Desjardins upgraded shares of Pet Valu (TSE:PET - Free Report) to a moderate buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. National Bankshares raised their price objective on Pet Valu from C$30.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Pet Valu from C$28.50 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. ATB Capital boosted their price target on Pet Valu from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Pet Valu from C$34.00 to C$35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Pet Valu from C$34.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of C$34.33.

Pet Valu Price Performance

TSE PET traded up C$0.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching C$29.19. 194,332 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 78,619. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$26.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$25.92. Pet Valu has a 1 year low of C$22.53 and a 1 year high of C$30.74. The company has a market cap of C$2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06 and a beta of 0.81.

Pet Valu Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from Pet Valu's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Pet Valu's payout ratio is currently 36.27%.

About Pet Valu

Pet Valu Holdings Ltd is engaged in providing pet-related products through its stores. Its products include Dry Food, Wet Food, Frozen raw food, Jerky Treats, and Training treats among others. The services offered by the company include Dog Wash, Adoption, Grooming, and Frozen Raw.