Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$55.00 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$55.00.

EMP.A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. TD boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Scotiabank cut Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Desjardins raised their price target on Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th.

Empire Stock Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$50.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$49.22 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.32. Empire has a 52-week low of C$43.81 and a 52-week high of C$58.32. The company has a market cap of C$11.42 billion, a PE ratio of 59.00, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51.

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

Empire Increases Dividend

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

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.