Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 15th, TickerTech reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share on Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A traded up C$0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting C$41.18. 418,300 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 415,437. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$38.69 and a 200 day moving average price of C$35.26. The company has a market cap of C$5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Empire has a twelve month low of C$31.45 and a twelve month high of C$41.48.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. CIBC increased their price objective on Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Empire from C$38.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, National Bankshares upped their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Empire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$43.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total value of C$199,868.50. In other news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total transaction of C$199,868.50. Also, Senior Officer Vivek Sood sold 4,236 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$36.17, for a total transaction of C$153,228.83. Following the sale, the insider now owns 381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$13,781.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,269 shares of company stock worth $788,772. Insiders own 2.17% of the company’s stock.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.