Empire (TSE:EMP.A) Hits New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Shares of Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$49.34 and last traded at C$49.15, with a volume of 18731 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$49.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank raised shares of Empire from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$47.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$48.86.

Empire Price Performance

The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$46.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$43.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.51. The company has a market capitalization of C$7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.48.

Empire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Empire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Gagne sold 12,269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$48.22, for a total value of C$591,611.18. Also, Senior Officer Pierre St-Laurent sold 5,354 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.96, for a total value of C$240,715.84. Insiders have sold a total of 20,459 shares of company stock worth $961,651 over the last quarter. 2.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.