Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Reaches New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$49.34 and last traded at C$49.15, with a volume of 18731 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$49.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Empire Stock Performance

The business's fifty day moving average is C$46.21 and its 200-day moving average is C$43.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The company has a market cap of C$7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Empire's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Insider Transactions at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total transaction of C$33,832.37. Insiders sold 20,459 shares of company stock worth $961,651 in the last three months. Corporate 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.