Insider Selling: Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells 12,269 Shares of Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$47.92 on Monday. Empire Company Limited has a fifty-two week low of C$31.45 and a fifty-two week high of C$49.28. 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 company has a market cap of C$6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$44.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$42.76.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EMP.A. Desjardins upped their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Sunday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$48.86.

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.