Insider Selling: Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells 4,236 Shares of Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Vivek Sood sold 4,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$36.17, for a total transaction of C$153,228.83. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$13,781.91.

Empire Price Performance

Shares of TSE EMP.A opened at C$36.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 133.75, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Empire Company Limited has a 1-year low of C$31.45 and a 1-year high of C$40.69. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$34.04 and a 200-day moving average of C$33.77.

Empire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This is an increase from Empire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is 24.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EMP.A. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$36.00 to C$38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. National Bankshares boosted their price target on Empire from C$40.00 to C$41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Empire from C$42.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Desjardins boosted their target price on Empire from C$38.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Empire from C$37.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$38.71.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.