Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.75.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Melius raised Albertsons Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Thursday, January 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 88.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,841,582 shares of the company's stock valued at $311,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,887,688 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,063,266 shares of the company's stock worth $167,229,000 after buying an additional 592,711 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Albertsons Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,615,413 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,213,000 after buying an additional 141,933 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its position in Albertsons Companies by 22.8% in the third quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 8,546,881 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,946,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585,899 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Albertsons Companies by 25.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,170,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239,978 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company's stock.

Albertsons Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Albertsons Companies stock traded down $0.23 on Thursday, reaching $20.20. The stock had a trading volume of 5,637,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,195,885. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.93. The business's 50-day moving average price is $19.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.33. The stock has a market cap of $11.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.51. Albertsons Companies has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $22.42.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 1.30% and a return on equity of 44.70%. The firm had revenue of $18.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Albertsons Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Albertsons Companies's payout ratio is 26.97%.

Albertsons Companies Company Profile

Albertsons Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of food and drug stores in the United States. The company's food and drug retail stores offer grocery products, general merchandise, health and beauty care products, pharmacy, fuel, and other items and services. It also manufactures and processes food products for sale in stores.