Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Declares Dividend Increase - $0.22 Per Share

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 15th, TickerTech Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.22 per share on Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This is a 10.0% increase from Empire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$56.45 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is C$52.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$47.88. 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$35.05 and a 1-year high of C$57.10. The company has a market cap of C$7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 4,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$55.79, for a total value of C$249,660.25. Also, Senior Officer Sandra Sanderson sold 4,526 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$56.00, for a total value of C$253,456.00. In the last quarter, insiders sold 153,761 shares of company stock worth $8,596,394. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. CIBC upped their price objective on Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Desjardins upped their price objective on Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, National Bankshares upped their price objective on Empire from C$53.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$57.43.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.