Douglas Bigler Nathanson Sells 4,525 Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 4,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$39.66, for a total value of C$179,461.50.

Empire Price Performance

TSE:EMP.A opened at C$39.23 on Thursday. Empire Company Limited has a 52-week low of C$31.45 and a 52-week high of C$41.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 134.59. The firm has a market cap of C$5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$37.12 and its 200 day moving average price is C$34.51.

Empire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Empire’s payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EMP.A. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. 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. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of 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 boosted their price target on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Desjardins upped their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$43.14.

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.