Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Sets New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$52.78 and last traded at C$52.62, with a volume of 14432 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$52.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank raised shares of Empire from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$48.86.

Empire Stock Up 0.2%

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is C$49.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$45.45. The company has a market cap of C$7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Empire's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Insider Activity at Empire

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of Empire stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total value of C$240,715.84. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of Empire stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18. Insiders have sold 20,459 shares of company stock worth $961,651 over the last quarter. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.