Empire Company Limited (EMP.A.TO) – What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$53.56.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EMP.A. TD lowered their price target on Empire from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 11th. Scotia dropped their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a C$57.00 target price on Empire and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Desjardins decreased their price target on Empire from C$57.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th.

Empire Stock Performance

TSE:EMP.A opened at C$49.39 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$48.65 and a 200-day moving average price of C$48.61. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$43.81 and a fifty-two week high of C$52.64. The firm has a market cap of C$11.05 billion, a PE ratio of 49.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The company reported C$1.04 earnings per share for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of C$8.47 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Empire will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.2425 per share. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.16%.

About Empire

Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian company headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire’s key businesses are food retailing, through wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc, and related real estate. With approximately $32 billion in annual sales and $17 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 130,000 people. Additional financial information relating to Empire, including the Company’s Annual Information Form, can be found on the Company’s website at www.empireco.ca or on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.