Brokerages Set Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Target Price at C$48.57

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$48.86.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. Desjardins boosted their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 15th. Scotiabank upgraded Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 8,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.48, for a total value of C$376,211.84. Also, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were 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.

Empire Trading Up 2.5 %

EMP.A opened at C$43.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. Empire has a 12 month low of C$31.45 and a 12 month high of C$46.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$43.40 and a 200-day moving average price of C$41.80.

Empire Dividend Announcement

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