Analysts Set Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) PT at C$55.00

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$55.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Desjardins upped their target price on Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. TD increased their price target on Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Empire from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th.

Empire Trading Up 0.3%

Empire stock opened at C$51.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of C$11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.66, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.22. Empire has a one year low of C$43.81 and a one year high of C$58.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$49.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$48.44.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$7.81 billion during the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. On average, analysts forecast that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Empire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $0.2425 dividend. This is a boost from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Empire’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

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. 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.