Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) Given New $22.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) had its price objective hoisted by Evercore ISI from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albertsons Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Trading Up 1.6 %

ACI opened at $21.18 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.49. The company has a market cap of $12.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.93. Albertsons Companies has a one year low of $17.00 and a one year high of $21.67.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $18.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.82 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albertsons Companies will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albertsons Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,310,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,875 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 55.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,150,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,596,000 after acquiring an additional 9,308,940 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $298,302,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 10,204,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,491,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,211,000 after acquiring an additional 428,506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

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.