Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a GBX 2,300 ($28.62) target price on the stock.

Separately, Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Associated British Foods in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Associated British Foods Price Performance

LON:ABF opened at GBX 1,908.50 ($23.75) on Tuesday. Associated British Foods has a one year low of GBX 1,862 ($23.17) and a one year high of GBX 2,770.66 ($34.47). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.71, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market cap of £14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,231.29, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is GBX 2,082.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 2,275.74.

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported GBX 196.90 ($2.45) EPS for the quarter. Associated British Foods had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 10.69%. Research analysts expect that Associated British Foods will post 188.0990415 EPS for the current year.

Associated British Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were given a GBX 69.30 ($0.86) dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is an increase from Associated British Foods’s previous dividend of $20.70. Associated British Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 3,483.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Loraine Woodhouse purchased 4,164 shares of Associated British Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 2,389 ($29.73) per share, for a total transaction of £99,477.96 ($123,774.99). Also, insider George G. Weston sold 56,653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,161 ($26.89), for a total transaction of £1,224,271.33 ($1,523,293.93). Insiders own 58.08% of the company’s stock.

Associated British Foods Company Profile

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £13.9bn, 128,000 employees and operations in 53 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia.

Our purpose is to provide safe, nutritious, affordable food, and clothing that is great value for money.