Brokerages Set Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Target Price at C$38.86

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$38.43.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Empire from C$37.00 to C$35.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. National Bankshares dropped their target price on Empire from C$41.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Empire from C$37.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Empire from C$37.00 to C$36.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE:EMP.A opened at C$31.99 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$33.32 and its 200-day moving average price is C$35.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 133.75, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.47. Empire has a one year low of C$31.45 and a one year high of C$40.69.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.1825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.17%.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.