Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of C$53.67 According to Brokerages

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$53.67.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD cut their target price on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 11th. National Bank Financial reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, June 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A opened at C$48.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.34, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$48.20 and a 200-day moving average of C$48.59. 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 has a 1-year low of C$43.81 and a 1-year high of C$52.64.

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

Empire Announces Dividend

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