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

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$50.29.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Scotiabank raised shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of EMP.A stock opened at C$51.51 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. The company has a market capitalization of C$7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$50.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$46.30. Empire has a one year low of C$31.60 and a one year high of C$54.21.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Empire’s payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Insider Activity at Empire

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18. Also, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total transaction of C$240,715.84. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,692 shares of company stock worth $927,819. 2.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.