Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Director Sells C$242,690.74 in Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Director William Linton sold 7,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$34.39, for a total transaction of C$242,690.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$30,087.05.

Empire Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of EMP.A opened at C$34.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of C$4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 133.75, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Empire Company Limited has a 1 year low of C$31.45 and a 1 year high of C$40.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$32.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$33.78.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.1825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EMP.A. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Empire from C$37.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Empire from C$37.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Desjardins reduced their target price on shares of Empire from C$40.00 to C$39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Empire from C$42.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$38.29.

About Empire

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises approximately 1,500 retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs; and approximately 350 retail fuel locations.