Cascades (TSE:CAS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Cascades (TSE:CAS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

CAS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Cascades from C$12.00 to C$14.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Cascades from C$12.00 to C$13.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on Cascades from C$12.00 to C$13.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$12.50.

Cascades Price Performance

Shares of Cascades stock traded down C$0.25 on Monday, hitting C$13.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 254,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 218,107. Cascades has a 1 year low of C$8.83 and a 1 year high of C$14.96. The company has a market capitalization of C$1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 119.55, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$12.12 and a 200-day moving average price of C$10.69.

Cascades (TSE:CAS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.14 by C$0.13. Cascades had a negative return on equity of 1.44% and a negative net margin of 0.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cascades will post 1.2959309 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cascades Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. Cascades's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -114.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Luc Langevin sold 3,000 shares of Cascades stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$11.30, for a total transaction of C$33,900.00. Insiders own 23.78% of the company's stock.

Cascades Company Profile

Cascades Inc produces, converts, and markets packaging and tissue products in Canada and the United States. The company operates through three segments: Containerboard, Specialty Products, and Tissue Papers. It offers various packaging solutions and tissue products comprised of recycled fibers; tissue papers, comprising parent rolls of virgin and recycled fibres; specialty products, including uncoated recycled boxboards; and containerboards.