Insider Selling: Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Sells 5,354 Shares of Stock

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of Empire stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total transaction of C$240,715.84.

Empire Price Performance

EMP.A opened at C$46.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.95, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. Empire Company Limited has a 1-year low of C$31.45 and a 1-year high of C$46.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$43.64 and a 200-day moving average of C$42.20. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Empire’s payout ratio is 29.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on EMP.A. Desjardins raised their price objective on Empire from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Empire from C$44.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Empire from C$47.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Empire from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Empire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.