Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Director Sells C$3,400,086.52 in Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Director Michael Bennett Medline sold 75,844 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.83, for a total value of C$3,400,086.52.

Empire Trading Up 0.0 %

TSE:EMP.A traded up C$0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting C$44.40. 409,021 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 408,254. The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. Empire Company Limited has a one year low of C$31.45 and a one year high of C$46.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$41.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$37.99.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EMP.A. Desjardins raised their target price on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Sunday. National Bankshares increased their price target on Empire from C$42.00 to C$46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$48.57.

Empire Company Profile

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.