Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$48.57 Average Target Price from Analysts

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$48.57.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins raised their price objective on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Sunday, December 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Empire Price Performance

TSE EMP.A opened at C$43.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of C$6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$42.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$38.56. Empire has a 52-week low of C$31.45 and a 52-week high of C$46.77.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In related news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$43.81, for a total transaction of C$200,956.47. Also, Director Michael Bennett Medline sold 75,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.83, for a total value of C$3,400,086.52. Insiders sold 101,004 shares of company stock valued at $4,505,138 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

About Empire

Empire Co Ltd key businesses are food retailing, investments, and other operations. The food retailing division operates through Empire’s subsidiary Sobeys and represents nearly all of the company’s income. This segment owns, affiliates, or franchises more than 1,500 stores in 10 provinces, under retail banners including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, Lawton’s Drug Stores, and multiple retail fuel locations.