Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, 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 brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$48.57.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. National Bankshares upped their target price on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 8,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.48, for a total value of C$376,211.84. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total transaction of C$147,252.79. Insiders have sold a total of 104,662 shares of company stock valued at $4,652,391 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

Empire Stock Up 1.6 %

EMP.A opened at C$43.92 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of C$31.45 and a 12 month high of C$46.77. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$41.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$38.20.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

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.