Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.12

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 11th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share on Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th.

Albertsons Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 68.7% per year over the last three years. Albertsons Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Albertsons Companies to earn $2.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.4%.

Albertsons Companies Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:ACI opened at $20.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.49. Albertsons Companies has a one year low of $19.33 and a one year high of $23.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.01). Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 68.02%. The firm had revenue of $24.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albertsons Companies will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ACI. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $27.25 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Roth Capital raised Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albertsons Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anuj Dhanda sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.35, for a total value of $2,035,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 365,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,433,793.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Albertsons Companies news, insider Anuj Dhanda sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.35, for a total value of $2,035,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 365,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,433,793.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert Bruce Larson sold 24,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.24, for a total transaction of $493,086.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 50,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,016,877.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% 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.