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

Key Points

• Empire Company has a consensus “Hold” rating from eight brokerages: five analysts recommend holding the stock and three recommend buying it. The average 12-month price target is C$55.00.
• Several firms recently raised their targets, with forecasts ranging from C$53.00 to C$58.00; CIBC and Desjardins issued outperformer and buy ratings, respectively.
• Empire reported quarterly EPS of C$0.94 on C$7.81 billion in revenue and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.2425 per share, or $0.97 annually, yielding approximately 2.0%.

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation 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$55.00.

Several research firms have commented on EMP.A. National Bank Financial increased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. TD increased their price target on Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price target on Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A stock opened at C$48.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company's fifty day moving average price is C$49.88 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.80. Empire has a one year low of C$43.81 and a one year high of C$58.32. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.81 billion, a PE ratio of 56.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share for the quarter. The company 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Empire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.2425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Empire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Empire's dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited TSX: EMP.A is a Canadian company headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire's key businesses are food retailing, through wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc, and related real estate. With approximately $32 billion in annual sales and $17 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 130,000 people. Additional financial information relating to Empire, including the Company's Annual Information Form, can be found on the Company's website at www.empireco.ca or on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

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