National Bankshares Issues Positive Forecast for Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price

Empire (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by National Bankshares from C$53.00 to C$59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a "sector perform" rating on the stock. National Bankshares' price objective points to a potential upside of 6.17% from the company's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EMP.A. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$57.43.

Empire Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded up C$0.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting C$55.57. 344,432 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 487,888. The company has a market cap of C$7.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$50.90 and a 200-day moving average price of C$46.49. Empire has a 52 week low of C$33.77 and a 52 week high of C$56.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Insider Activity

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 1,852 shares of the 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 value of C$85,488.32. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of Empire stock in a transaction 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. 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.

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