Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$57.43 Average PT from Brokerages

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$57.43.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Desjardins increased their price target on Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. National Bankshares increased their price target on Empire from C$53.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. CIBC increased their price target on Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Friday, June 20th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th.

Empire Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of EMP.A stock traded down C$0.42 on Friday, hitting C$55.66. The company had a trading volume of 144,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,079. The firm has a market cap of C$7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The stock's 50-day moving average is C$52.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$47.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. Empire has a twelve month low of C$35.05 and a twelve month high of C$57.10.

Empire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Empire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Empire's payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$54.91, for a total transaction of C$32,946.00. Also, Senior Officer Sandra Sanderson sold 4,526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$56.00, for a total transaction of C$253,456.00. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 153,761 shares of company stock worth $8,596,394. Company insiders own 2.18% of the company's stock.

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.