Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Raised to C$48.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its target price upped by BMO Capital Markets from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. National Bankshares raised their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Desjardins increased their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$48.14.

Empire Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Empire stock opened at C$44.69 on Friday. Empire has a 1-year low of C$31.45 and a 1-year high of C$46.77. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$41.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$37.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Empire Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s payout ratio is 29.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total transaction of C$199,868.50. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total value of C$147,252.79. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Empire Company Profile

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.