Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$46.85 and last traded at C$46.83, with a volume of 155418 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$46.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Empire Trading Up 0.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The firm has a market cap of C$6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$43.45 and its 200 day moving average is C$41.96.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Empire’s payout ratio is 29.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total transaction of C$33,832.37. 2.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Empire Company Profile

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.