Scotia Cuts Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target to C$50.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price target lowered by Scotia from C$52.00 to C$50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,BayStreet reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on EMP.A. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$54.56.

Empire Stock Up 0.3%

EMP.A stock opened at C$47.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of C$10.73 billion, a PE ratio of 55.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$49.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$48.84. Empire has a 52 week low of C$43.81 and a 52 week high of C$52.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of C$7.81 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Empire Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.2425 per share. This is a boost from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Empire’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

About Empire

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.