Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Cut to Sector Perform at Scotiabank

Scotiabank cut shares of Empire (TSE:EMP.A) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has C$52.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on EMP.A. Desjardins decreased their price target on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. National Bank Financial decreased their price target on Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note 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 decreased their price target on Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their price target on Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Empire has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.83.

Empire Stock Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$48.94 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$49.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$48.69. 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 cap of C$11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.04, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.04. Empire has a 1 year low of C$43.81 and a 1 year high of C$58.32.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$7.89 billion during the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. Research analysts forecast that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Empire’s payout ratio is 128.36%.

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.