Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Rating Increased to Outperform at BMO Capital Markets

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) was upgraded by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a C$58.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential upside of 13.37% from the company’s current price.

EMP.A has been the topic of several other research reports. National Bank Financial increased their price target on Empire from C$54.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Desjardins raised their target price on Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Scotiabank downgraded Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target 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. Finally, TD upped their price objective on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Empire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$55.00.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded up C$2.21 during trading on Monday, hitting C$51.16. The company had a trading volume of 243,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 496,664. The company has a market cap of C$11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.49, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.22. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is C$48.79 and its 200 day moving average is C$48.22. Empire has a 52 week low of C$43.81 and a 52 week high of C$58.32.

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 return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%.The firm had revenue of C$7.81 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.