Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Shares of Empire have a consensus broker rating of "Hold" (four holds, two buys) with an average 1‑year price target of C$52.83, and recent downgrades/lowered targets from RBC (to C$55) and Scotiabank (to C$52).
• Valuation and balance‑sheet signals are mixed: the stock trades around C$47.56 with a high P/E of 70.99, a PEG of 16.20 and a debt/equity of 135.51, while Empire pays a quarterly dividend of C$0.22 (annualized C$0.88, 1.9% yield) but has a payout ratio of 128.36%, suggesting potential sustainability concerns.

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$52.83.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. 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.

Empire Price Performance

TSE EMP.A opened at C$47.56 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average price is C$49.07 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.65. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.99, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.04. 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$43.81 and a 1-year high of C$58.32.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$7.89 billion for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. On average, equities analysts predict that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Empire's dividend payout ratio is 128.36%.

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.

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