Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.83.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Securities decreased their price target on Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reduced their target price on Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th.

Empire Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$49.27 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$47.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$49.52. 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$42.26 and a 1 year high of C$58.32. The firm has a market cap of C$11.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.14.

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

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. 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.