Analysts Set Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Target Price at C$53.83

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$53.83.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EMP.A. National Bankshares cut their price objective on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. CIBC dropped their target price on shares of Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Desjardins lowered their price target on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th.

Empire Stock Performance

EMP.A opened at C$46.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.03. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$40.33 and a fifty-two week high of C$58.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$49.36 and a 200 day moving average of C$51.59.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$8 billion for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. Empire’s payout ratio is 28.47%.

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. The company’s investment and other operations segment include the investment in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended Canadian real estate investment trust, as well as the Genstar Development Partnership.