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

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

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A stock opened at C$46.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$43.56 and a 200-day moving average price of C$42.14. Empire Company Limited has a 52-week low of C$31.45 and a 52-week high of C$46.91. The firm has a market capitalization of C$6.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMP.A has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. CIBC upped their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank upgraded Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.