Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$48.57.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins increased their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Sunday, December 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. CIBC raised their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 8,458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.48, for a total transaction of C$376,211.84. Also, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sold 96,154 shares of company stock valued at $4,305,270 over the last ninety days. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A stock opened at C$42.52 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$43.42 and a 200-day moving average price of C$40.65. 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 has a 52-week low of C$31.45 and a 52-week high of C$46.77.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

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.