Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Raised to C$44.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its target price raised by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from C$43.00 to C$44.00 in a report issued on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.21% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Desjardins lifted their target price on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$38.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$43.86.

Empire Stock Performance

EMP.A stock traded down C$0.16 during trading on Monday, reaching C$41.82. The company had a trading volume of 23,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 406,915. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$40.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$37.18. The company has a market cap of C$5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. 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 has a twelve month low of C$31.45 and a twelve month high of C$42.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total transaction of C$147,252.79. Also, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total transaction of C$199,868.50. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,033 shares of company stock valued at $526,583. 2.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Empire

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.