Desjardins Cuts Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target to C$53.00

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Desjardins from C$60.00 to C$53.00 in a research report issued on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Desjardins’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.00% from the stock’s current price.

EMP.A has been the subject of a number of other reports. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. National Bankshares lowered their target price on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$53.00.

Empire Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of TSE:EMP.A traded down C$0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$46.49. 345,642 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 438,427. The firm has a market cap of C$10.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.08. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$40.33 and a fifty-two week high of C$58.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$49.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$52.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%.The firm had revenue of C$8 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current year.

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.