Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• "Moderate Buy" consensus from six analysts (three hold, three buy) with an average 1-year price target of C$52.83; several brokerages recently trimmed targets to roughly C$50–C$55.
• Shares opened at C$48.87 and Empire shows a stretched valuation and capital structure—P/E 72.94 and debt-to-equity 135.51—while last quarter EPS was C$0.72 on C$7.89 billion revenue and analysts forecast about C$2.96 EPS for the year.

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$52.83.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EMP.A. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Desjardins dropped their price target on shares of Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th.

Empire Stock Performance

TSE EMP.A opened at C$48.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.94, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.01. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is C$47.77 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.78. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$43.81 and a fifty-two week high of C$58.32.

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

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. 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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