Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$48.16 and traded as high as C$50.05. Empire shares last traded at C$49.33, with a volume of 261,149 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank downgraded Empire from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a C$52.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$52.83.

Empire Stock Down 1.3%

The business has a 50 day moving average of C$47.85 and a 200-day moving average of C$48.16. The stock has a market cap of C$11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 73.63, a P/E/G ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20. 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 (TSE:EMP.A) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%.The company had revenue of C$7.89 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Empire Company Limited will post 2.9581227 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Empire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.36%.

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. 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.