Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets to “Outperform” Rating

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Empire (TSE:EMP.A) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has C$58.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Scotiabank cut shares of Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, TD increased their price target on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$55.00.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of EMP.A opened at C$50.76 on Monday. Empire has a twelve month low of C$43.81 and a twelve month high of C$58.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is C$48.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$48.24. The firm has a market capitalization of C$11.43 billion, a PE ratio of 59.02, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$7.81 billion for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. Research analysts anticipate that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.2425 per share. This is a positive change from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

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.