Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Reaches New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Empire Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is C$49.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$45.32.

Empire Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18. Also, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total value of C$33,832.37. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,459 shares of company stock valued at $961,651. Company 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.