Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 791,467 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,544,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of Albertsons Companies as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,196,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,138,000 after purchasing an additional 43,532 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,117,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,646,000 after purchasing an additional 94,300 shares in the last quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $746,000. K2 Principal Fund L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 68.4% during the 3rd quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. now owns 270,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,999,000 after purchasing an additional 109,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $433,000. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACI. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America began coverage on Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $23.50.

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Albertsons Companies Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ACI stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,920,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,896,274. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.89, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.50.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The firm had revenue of $18.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albertsons Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Albertsons Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Albertsons Companies's dividend payout ratio is 33.71%.

About Albertsons Companies

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.