Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$27.47 and traded as high as C$30.19. Maple Leaf Foods shares last traded at C$30.00, with a volume of 265,612 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MFI shares. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on Maple Leaf Foods from C$33.00 to C$34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Maple Leaf Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Maple Leaf Foods from C$32.00 to C$35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$34.57.

Maple Leaf Foods Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 93.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$27.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$27.49. The stock has a market cap of C$3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.75.

Maple Leaf Foods (TSE:MFI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported C$0.32 EPS for the quarter. Maple Leaf Foods had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 35.43%. The company had revenue of C$991.24 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Maple Leaf Foods Inc. will post 1.4334187 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Maple Leaf Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Maple Leaf Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Maple Leaf Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.41%.

Maple Leaf Foods Company Profile

Maple Leaf Foods Inc is a consumer-packaged meats company. It produces prepared meats and meals, fresh pork, and poultry and turkey products. The company also has agribusiness operations. These operations supply livestock to the meat products business operations. Its main markets are Canada, the United States, Japan, and China. The key brands are Maple Leaf and Schneiders, Maple Leaf Prime Naturally, Shopsy, Mitchell’s Gourmet Food, Larse, Parm, and Hygrade.