Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Receives C$52.83 Average PT from Analysts

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$52.83.

Several research firms have recently commented on EMP.A. TD Securities lowered their target price on Empire from C$58.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Desjardins reduced their price objective on Empire from C$60.00 to C$53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Empire from C$57.00 to C$52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Empire from C$61.00 to C$55.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Empire from C$59.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th.

Empire Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of TSE:EMP.A opened at C$48.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$47.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$50.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.79. Empire has a 1-year low of C$41.85 and a 1-year high of C$58.32. The stock has a market capitalization of C$11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.14.

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