Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Price Target Lowered to C$50.00 at TD Securities

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective decreased by TD Securities from C$58.00 to C$50.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. TD Securities currently has a hold rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on EMP.A. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. 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 research report on Friday. National Bankshares lowered their price objective on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Desjardins cut their target price on shares of Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$53.83.

Empire Stock Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$46.05 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$49.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$52.26. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.08. 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 has a 52-week low of C$40.33 and a 52-week high of C$58.32.

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

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Empire’s payout ratio is presently 27.52%.

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.