Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Matthew Reindel Sells 4,587 Shares

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A traded up C$0.65 during trading on Monday, hitting C$43.87. The company had a trading volume of 228,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,980. The company has a market cap of C$6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is C$41.76 and its 200 day moving average is C$38.20. Empire Company Limited has a 52 week low of C$31.45 and a 52 week high of C$46.77.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is 29.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EMP.A shares. Desjardins raised their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 15th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Empire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$48.57.

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.