Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Raised to C$55.00 at CIBC

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price target upped by CIBC from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a report released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Empire from C$43.00 to C$44.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$48.57.

Empire Trading Down 1.3 %

TSE EMP.A opened at C$44.69 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$41.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$37.84. Empire has a one year low of C$31.45 and a one year high of C$46.77. The company has a market capitalization of C$6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. 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 was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total value of C$147,252.79. Also, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total value of C$199,868.50. Corporate insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

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.