Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Given New C$50.00 Price Target at Scotia

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Scotia from C$52.00 to C$50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, BayStreet reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Scotia’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.44% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Empire from C$53.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. National Bank Financial lifted their price target on shares of Empire from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on shares of Empire from C$54.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, June 19th. Finally, TD raised their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$54.56.

Empire Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Empire stock traded down C$0.66 on Wednesday, hitting C$47.42. 94,176 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 484,172. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$49.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$48.86. Empire has a one year low of C$43.81 and a one year high of C$53.99. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of -0.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported C$0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$7.81 billion for the quarter. Empire had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 2.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Empire will post 2.9581227 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire Company Profile

Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian company headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire’s key businesses are food retailing, through wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc, and related real estate. With approximately $32 billion in annual sales and $17 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 130,000 people. Additional financial information relating to Empire, including the Company’s Annual Information Form, can be found on the Company’s website at www.empireco.ca or on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.