Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Matthew Reindel Sells 1,852 Shares

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 1,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$46.16, for a total value of C$85,488.32.

Matthew Reindel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 21st, Matthew Reindel sold 217 shares of Empire stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$46.10, for a total value of C$10,003.70.
• On Monday, March 17th, Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of Empire stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total transaction of C$33,832.37.

Empire Stock Performance

EMP.A stock traded down C$0.54 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting C$45.89. 721,902 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 558,077. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$43.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$42.20. The firm has a market capitalization of C$6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. Empire Company Limited has a 12 month low of C$31.45 and a 12 month high of C$46.91. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on EMP.A. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins lifted their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Empire 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.