Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target to C$55.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank Of Canada from C$61.00 to C$55.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. CIBC cut their price target on Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. National Bankshares reduced their price target on Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Desjardins lowered their price objective on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Empire presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$52.83.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE:EMP.A opened at C$45.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$48.60 and its 200-day moving average price is C$50.77. Empire has a twelve month low of C$40.33 and a twelve month high of C$58.32.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of C$8 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current year.

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.