Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from C$61.00 to C$55.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 20.99% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Desjardins dropped their target price on shares of Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. CIBC lowered their target price on Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Empire from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$52.83.

Empire Stock Performance

TSE EMP.A opened at C$45.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$48.60 and a 200 day moving average of C$50.81. 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 has a twelve month low of C$40.33 and a twelve month high of C$58.32.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8 billion for the quarter. Empire had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Empire will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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. The company’s investment and other operations segment include the investment in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended Canadian real estate investment trust, as well as the Genstar Development Partnership.