Empire (EMP.A) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company's investment and other operations segment include the investment in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended Canadian real estate investment trust, as well as the Genstar Development Partnership.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: C$42.67 to C$43.20
• 50-Day Range: C$42.09 to C$44.54
• 52-Week Range: C$31.45 to C$46.77
• Volume: 554,379 shs
• Average Volume: 466,426 shs
• Market Capitalization: C$6.04 billion
• P/E Ratio: 15.69
• Dividend Yield: 1.86%
• Price Target: C$48.57
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Empire Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Empire scored higher than 30% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Empire has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.43, and is based on 3 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Empire has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: N/A

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Empire is 15.69, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 23.53.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Empire is 15.69, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Defensive sector average P/E ratio of about 10.86.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Empire has a PEG Ratio of 16.20. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Empire has a P/B Ratio of 1.91. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: N/A
• Short Interest Level: N/A

Short Interest

There is no current short interest data available for EMP.A.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Empire pays a meaningful dividend of 1.96%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Empire does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Empire is 29.20%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Short Interest

There is no current short interest data available for EMP.A.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.46

News Sentiment

Empire has a news sentiment score of 0.46. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Consumer Defensive companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Empire this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Empire to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Empire insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought C$0.00 in company stock and sold C$4,305,270.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.18% of the stock of Empire is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

40.86% of the stock of Empire is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

EMP.A Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have EMP.A shares performed this year?

Empire's stock was trading at C$43.89 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, EMP.A shares have decreased by 2.1% and is now trading at C$42.99.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How do I buy shares of Empire?

Shares of EMP.A stock and other Canadian stocks can be purchased through an online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the Canadian stock market include BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor's Edge, Desjardins Online Brokerage, HSBC InvestDirect, Laurentian Bank Discount Brokerage, National Bank Direct Brokerage, Qtrade Investor, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct Investing, and Virtual Brokers.

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 1/31 Dividend: 1/15/2025
• Dividend Payable: 1/31/2025
• Today: 2/22/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: TSE
• Sector: Consumer Defensive
• Industry: Grocery Stores
• Sub-Industry: Misc.
• Current Symbol: TSE:EMP.A
• CUSIP: N/A
• CIK: N/A
• Web: www.empireco.ca
• Phone: +1-902-7554440
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 125,000
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: C$48.57
• High Stock Price Target: C$55.00
• Low Stock Price Target: C$46.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +13.0%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.43
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): C$2.74
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 15.69
• Forward P/E Ratio: 14.53
• P/E Growth: 16.2
• Net Income: C$672 million
• Net Margins: 2.18%
• Pretax Margin: N/A
• Return on Equity: 12.94%
• Return on Assets: 4.60%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 135.51
• Current Ratio: 0.79
• Quick Ratio: 0.29

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: C$30.87 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.20
• Cash Flow: C$1.69 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 25.50
• Book Value: C$22.51 per share
• Price / Book: 1.91

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 140,410,000
• Free Float: N/A
• Market Cap: C$6.04 billion
• Optionable: Not Optionable
• Beta: 0.48