Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$47.76 and traded as high as C$57.10. Empire shares last traded at C$56.22, with a volume of 527,494 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMP.A has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. CIBC increased their price target on Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$57.43.

Empire Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$52.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$47.76. The firm has a market cap of C$7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Empire’s payout ratio is 29.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 8,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$55.80, for a total value of C$489,477.60. Also, Director Michael Bennett Medline sold 45,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$55.89, for a total value of C$2,541,541.86. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 104,280 shares of company stock valued at $5,795,794. 2.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.