Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$54.57 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$54.57.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EMP.A. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Scotiabank lowered shares of Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 9th. TD upped their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on Empire from C$54.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th.

Empire Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of EMP.A stock traded up C$0.43 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching C$49.20. 84,405 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,452. Empire has a 1 year low of C$43.81 and a 1 year high of C$58.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The stock has a market cap of C$11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 57.21, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$48.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$48.12.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$7.81 billion during the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Research analysts predict that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current year.

Empire Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.2425 per share. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This is a boost from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

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. 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.