Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Trading Up 6.7% - Should You Buy?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) rose 6.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$56.08 and last traded at C$55.37. Approximately 93,396 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 486,708 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$51.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMP.A has been the subject of several analyst reports. National Bankshares raised their price objective on Empire from C$53.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Friday. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$48.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$57.43.

Empire Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company's 50 day moving average is C$51.08 and its 200-day moving average is C$46.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Empire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 1,852 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$46.16, for a total transaction of C$85,488.32. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm's 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. 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.