Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$48.81 and traded as high as C$49.66. Empire shares last traded at C$48.87, with a volume of 962,132 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMP.A has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Desjardins dropped their price objective on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. National Bank Financial lowered their target price on Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered their price objective on shares of Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Empire currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$52.83.

Empire Stock Down 0.2%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$47.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$48.78. The stock has a market capitalization of C$11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.94, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.01. 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 (TSE:EMP.A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business had revenue of C$7.89 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Empire Company Limited will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current year.

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.