Empire Company Limited Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (TSE:EMP.A)

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,TickerTech Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th.

Empire Price Performance

TSE:EMP.A opened at C$43.70 on Monday. 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$31.45 and a 52 week high of C$46.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$42.74 and its 200-day moving average price is C$39.35. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EMP.A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities upped their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Empire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$48.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Empire

In other Empire news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$43.81, for a total value of C$200,956.47. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 8,458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.48, for a total transaction of C$376,211.84. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 96,154 shares of company stock worth $4,305,270. 2.18% of the stock is owned by 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.