Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$49.74 and traded as high as C$50.04. Empire shares last traded at C$49.43, with a volume of 403,485 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities decreased their target price on Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Desjardins dropped their target price on shares of Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, National Bank Financial reduced their price target on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$52.83.

Empire Stock Up 1.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of C$11.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$47.06 and a 200-day moving average price of C$49.74.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8 billion for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. As a group, analysts expect that Empire Company Limited will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current year.

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. The company’s investment and other operations segment include the investment in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended Canadian real estate investment trust, as well as the Genstar Development Partnership.