Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$38.86.

EMP.A has been the topic of several analyst reports. CIBC cut their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Friday, March 1st. National Bankshares cut their price target on Empire from C$41.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Empire from C$37.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Empire from C$49.00 to C$43.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Desjardins decreased their price target on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$39.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th.

Empire Stock Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded down C$0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting C$31.70. The stock had a trading volume of 422,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,355. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 133.75, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$33.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$35.56. Empire has a twelve month low of C$31.45 and a twelve month high of C$40.69. The firm has a market cap of C$4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.47.

Empire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.1825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Empire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.17%.

About Empire

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.