Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson Sells 400 Shares

Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) Senior Officer Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$54.94, for a total value of C$21,976.00.

Douglas Bigler Nathanson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, June 20th, Douglas Bigler Nathanson sold 600 shares of Empire stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$54.91, for a total value of C$32,946.00.

Empire Price Performance

Empire stock traded up C$0.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting C$55.77. The stock had a trading volume of 282,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 489,096. The stock has a market capitalization of C$7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48. 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 Company Limited has a 1-year low of C$33.77 and a 1-year high of C$56.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$51.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$46.64.

Empire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.43%. Empire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$48.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on Empire from C$53.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Desjardins increased their target price on Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on Empire from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$57.43.

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.