Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Simon Gagne Sells 12,269 Shares

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

Empire Trading Down 2.2 %

EMP.A stock opened at C$47.92 on Friday. Empire Company Limited has a one year low of C$31.45 and a one year high of C$49.28. The company has a market capitalization of C$6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$44.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$42.76. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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