Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells C$33,832.37 in Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.11, for a total value of C$33,832.37.

Matthew Reindel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 19th, Matthew Reindel sold 4,587 shares of Empire stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$43.81, for a total value of C$200,956.47.

Empire Stock Performance

TSE:EMP.A opened at C$46.21 on Friday. Empire Company Limited has a 1-year low of C$31.45 and a 1-year high of C$46.91. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$43.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$42.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The stock has a market cap of C$6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Empire’s payout ratio is presently 29.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EMP.A. Scotiabank raised Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Desjardins raised their price objective on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Empire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$48.86.

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.