Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$48.86 Consensus PT from Analysts

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$48.86.

Separately, Scotiabank raised Empire from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total value of C$33,832.37. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,459 shares of company stock worth $961,651. Insiders own 2.18% of the company's stock.

Empire Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded up C$0.33 on Friday, hitting C$52.82. The company had a trading volume of 399,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 500,231. 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 has a 12-month low of C$31.60 and a 12-month high of C$53.29. The firm has a market capitalization of C$7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$49.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$45.32.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Empire's payout ratio is 29.20%.

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.