Wells Fargo & Company MN Grows Position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI - Free Report) by 201.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 307,265 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 205,335 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.05% of Albertsons Companies worth $6,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Albertsons Companies by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,310,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $713,131,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347,875 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albertsons Companies during the fourth quarter worth $298,302,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Albertsons Companies by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,491,772 shares of the company's stock worth $186,211,000 after buying an additional 428,506 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Albertsons Companies by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,465,449 shares of the company's stock worth $146,621,000 after buying an additional 1,294,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,384,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,465,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.38.

Albertsons Companies Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE ACI traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.39. 1,076,937 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,349,788. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $23.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. 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 business's 50-day moving average is $21.26 and its 200-day moving average is $20.05.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $18.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Albertsons Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.59%.

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.