Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Raised to C$46.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Empire from C$40.00 to C$43.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Empire from C$38.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. CIBC lifted their target price on Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Empire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$43.71.

Empire Stock Up 0.6 %

TSE EMP.A opened at C$41.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$40.34 and a 200-day moving average price of C$36.55. Empire has a one year low of C$31.45 and a one year high of C$42.00. 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 capitalization of C$5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Insider Activity at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of Empire stock in a transaction that occurred 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 that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total value of C$199,868.50. Insiders sold a total of 13,033 shares of company stock worth $526,583 in the last quarter. 2.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.