Brokerages Set Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Target Price at C$43.14

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$43.14.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EMP.A shares. National Bankshares boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$38.00 to C$44.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Empire Price Performance

Empire stock opened at C$41.18 on Thursday. Empire has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$41.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$38.69 and a 200 day moving average price of C$35.26. The company has a market cap of C$5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Empire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Vivek Sood sold 4,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$36.17, for a total value of C$153,228.83. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$13,781.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. In related news, Senior Officer Vivek Sood sold 4,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$36.17, for a total value of C$153,228.83. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$13,781.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$36.32, for a total transaction of C$108,960.00. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,269 shares of company stock worth $788,772. 2.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.