Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$48.57.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 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. Scotiabank upped their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 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 research report on Sunday, December 15th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Empire Stock Performance

Empire stock opened at C$43.70 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$42.06 and a 200-day moving average of C$38.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Empire has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$46.77. The company has a market capitalization of C$6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total transaction of C$199,868.50. Also, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the firm’s 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 value of C$200,956.47. Insiders sold 101,004 shares of company stock valued at $4,505,138 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

Empire Company Profile

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.