Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Given New C$56.00 Price Target at Desjardins

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Desjardins from C$53.00 to C$56.00 in a note issued to investors on Sunday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Desjardins’ target price points to a potential upside of 10.06% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on EMP.A. Scotiabank cut Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. TD boosted their target price on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, National Bank Financial lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$54.57.

Empire Stock Performance

Empire stock traded down C$0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$50.88. The company had a trading volume of 465,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,846. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The firm has a market cap of C$11.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.16, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$47.81 and a 200-day moving average of C$48.10. Empire has a 52 week low of C$43.81 and a 52 week high of C$58.32.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$7.81 billion for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The company’s investment and other operations segment include the investment in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended Canadian real estate investment trust, as well as the Genstar Development Partnership.