Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$48.06 and traded as high as C$51.42. Empire shares last traded at C$50.02, with a volume of 946,829 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMP.A has been the topic of several analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Desjardins increased their target price on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Scotiabank cut shares of Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, TD raised their price objective on Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Empire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$54.57.

Empire Stock Performance

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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$48.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$48.05. The company has a market cap of C$11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 57.76, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business 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%. Equities analysts predict that Empire Company Limited will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.