Pierre St-Laurent Sells 5,354 Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total value of C$240,715.84.

Empire Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of EMP.A stock opened at C$46.38 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. Empire Company Limited has a 12 month low of C$31.45 and a 12 month high of C$46.91. The stock has a market cap of C$6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$43.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$42.14.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Desjardins increased their price objective on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$48.86.

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.