Douglas Bigler Nathanson Sells 7,265 Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 7,265 shares of Empire stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$45.15, for a total value of C$328,014.75.

Douglas Bigler Nathanson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, September 25th, Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of Empire stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total value of C$147,252.79.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A stock opened at C$44.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$6.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$41.71 and its 200 day moving average is C$38.11. Empire Company Limited has a 52 week low of C$31.45 and a 52 week high of C$46.77. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMP.A has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 15th. National Bankshares raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$48.57.

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.