Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$46.45 and last traded at C$45.96, with a volume of 83055 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$43.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EMP.A shares. Desjardins boosted their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Friday. National Bankshares lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$48.14.

Empire Trading Down 1.3 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$41.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$37.78. 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$6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$41.21, for a total value of C$199,868.50. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 3,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$40.26, for a total value of C$147,252.79. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.