Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Has Average Target Price of C$53.56 According to Brokerages

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$53.56.

EMP.A has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a C$57.00 target price on shares of Empire and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Scotia dropped their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 11th. TD cut their price target on Empire from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut their price target on Empire from C$56.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 11th.

Empire Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of EMP.A stock opened at C$50.64 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of C$11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.15, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$48.60 and a 200-day moving average of C$48.56. Empire has a 12-month low of C$43.81 and a 12-month high of C$52.64.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 10th. The company reported C$1.04 EPS for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. The business had revenue of C$8.47 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Empire will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th were issued a $0.2425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.16%.

Empire Company Profile

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.