Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$44.50 and traded as high as C$50.73. Empire shares last traded at C$49.14, with a volume of 305,539 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$48.86.

Empire Stock Down 2.3%

The firm has a market cap of C$6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$47.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$44.50. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insider Transactions at Empire

In other news, Senior Officer Matthew Reindel sold 767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. Also, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total transaction of C$591,611.18. Insiders sold a total of 20,459 shares of company stock worth $961,651 in the last quarter. 2.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.