Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$53.83.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EMP.A. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. CIBC cut their price target on Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. TD Securities reduced their price target on Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Desjardins decreased their price objective on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th.

Empire Stock Up 1.6%

TSE:EMP.A opened at C$47.97 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$49.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$51.41. Empire has a 52-week low of C$40.33 and a 52-week high of C$58.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of C$11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.03.

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

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is 28.47%.

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.