Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells C$591,611.18 in Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18.

Empire Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded down C$0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$48.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 656,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,010. Empire Company Limited has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$49.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$44.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$42.66. The firm has a market capitalization of C$6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on EMP.A. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank raised 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 research report on Friday, March 14th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$48.86.

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.