Scotiabank Increases Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target to C$62.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A - Free Report) had its price target upped by Scotiabank from C$49.00 to C$62.00 in a report released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

EMP.A has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Desjardins increased their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$57.43.

Empire Stock Up 0.5%

TSE EMP.A traded up C$0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching C$55.77. 282,785 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 490,104. Empire has a 12-month low of C$33.77 and a 12-month high of C$56.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of C$7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$51.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$46.64.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Empire's payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the 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 value of C$591,611.18. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$54.91, for a total transaction of C$32,946.00. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,269 shares of company stock worth $646,533. 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.