Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Upgraded at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Empire (TSE:EMP.A) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has C$49.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of C$47.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities raised their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Empire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$48.86.

Empire Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Empire stock opened at C$43.48 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of C$6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. Empire has a 52-week low of C$31.45 and a 52-week high of C$46.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$43.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$41.83.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Insider Transactions at Empire

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$43.81, for a total value of C$200,956.47. 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.