Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) Research Coverage Started at Bank of America

Bank of America began coverage on shares of Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock.

ACI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Melius Research upgraded shares of 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. Melius upgraded Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Albertsons Companies from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.09.

Albertsons Companies Trading Up 2.0 %

ACI stock opened at $19.50 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.22. Albertsons Companies has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $23.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.51.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 49.50% and a net margin of 1.25%. The company had revenue of $18.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Albertsons Companies will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Albertsons Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albertsons Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 88.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,841,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,887,688 shares during the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 22.8% during the third quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 8,546,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585,899 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,239,978 shares in the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP raised its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 973.0% in the third quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 1,190,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,246 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 38.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,426,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,669,000 after purchasing an additional 956,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

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.