Insider Selling: Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells C$240,715.84 in Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total transaction of C$240,715.84.

Empire Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Empire stock opened at C$45.89 on Thursday. Empire Company Limited has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$46.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$43.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$42.23. The company has a market cap of C$6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is 29.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on EMP.A shares. CIBC raised their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank upgraded Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$48.86.

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.