CIBC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Stock

Empire (TSE:EMP.A) had its target price raised by CIBC from C$55.00 to C$59.00 in a research report report published on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on EMP.A. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$56.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$49.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective on shares of Empire from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Empire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$57.43.

Empire Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of TSE:EMP.A opened at C$55.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. Empire has a fifty-two week low of C$33.77 and a fifty-two week high of C$56.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$51.08 and its 200 day moving average price is C$46.64. The stock has a market cap of C$7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.20 dividend. 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 1.44%. Empire’s payout ratio is 29.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of Empire stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total value of C$591,611.18. Corporate insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

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.