Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Raised to C$56.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from C$50.00 to C$56.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Separately, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$50.29.

Empire Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Empire stock opened at C$51.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. Empire has a 52-week low of C$31.60 and a 52-week high of C$54.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$50.39 and a 200 day moving average of C$46.17.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total value of C$240,715.84. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of Empire stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total value of C$591,611.18. Insiders sold a total of 20,459 shares of company stock valued at $961,651 in the last quarter. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.