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

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$53.56.

EMP.A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotia dropped their price target on Empire from C$50.00 to C$48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 11th. TD decreased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, October 22nd.

Empire Stock Performance

TSE EMP.A opened at C$49.39 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.17. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$43.81 and a fifty-two week high of C$52.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$48.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$48.61. 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 (TSE:EMP.A) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The company reported C$1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.47 billion for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. On average, analysts forecast that Empire will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.16%.

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.