George Weston (TSE:WN) Rating Lowered to “Sector Perform” at Scotiabank

George Weston (TSE:WN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. They presently have a C$241.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of C$240.00. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.14% from the company’s previous close.

WN has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Securities upped their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on George Weston from C$253.00 to C$266.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Desjardins upped their price objective on George Weston from C$232.00 to C$255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on George Weston from C$220.00 to C$221.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on George Weston from C$254.00 to C$269.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$251.42.

George Weston Price Performance

TSE:WN opened at C$231.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 372.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$223.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$223.50. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.42. George Weston has a 12-month low of C$174.30 and a 12-month high of C$239.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$224.95, for a total transaction of C$2,249,513.00. Also, Senior Officer Rashid Wasti sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$235.45, for a total value of C$35,317.50. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,650,687. 59.41% of the stock is owned by 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%.