Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$43.14 Average PT from Analysts

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$43.14.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$43.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. National Bankshares raised their target price on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. CIBC upped their price target on Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Empire from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th.

Empire Trading Up 0.5 %

Empire stock opened at C$41.18 on Thursday. Empire has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$41.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$38.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$35.33. The firm has a market cap of C$5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is 29.20%.

Insider Activity

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$36.32, for a total value of C$108,960.00. In related news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$36.32, for a total value of C$108,960.00. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total value of C$147,252.79. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,269 shares of company stock valued at $788,772. Insiders own 2.17% of the company’s stock.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.