Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Stock Has Average Price Target of $13.42

Shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.42.

ACI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Bank of America cut shares of Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $16.00 to $12.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st.

Albertsons Companies Trading Down 3.2%

ACI opened at $13.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -120.77, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.89. Albertsons Companies has a 12 month low of $10.86 and a 12 month high of $18.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $12.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.92.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 13th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Albertsons Companies had a positive return on equity of 52.17% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $18.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albertsons Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 23rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 23rd. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is currently -618.18%.

Institutional Trading of Albertsons Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 11.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,013,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,855,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583,741 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Albertsons Companies by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,209,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,896,000 after purchasing an additional 769,503 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Albertsons Companies by 43.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,899,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,363,000 after purchasing an additional 578,401 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Albertsons Companies by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,179,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,258,000 after purchasing an additional 430,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Albertsons Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,069,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Albertsons Companies Company Profile

Albertsons Companies, Inc is a U.S. food and drug retailer that operates supermarkets, pharmacies, fuel centers and e-commerce businesses. Its stores offer fresh food, groceries, meat and seafood, bakery and deli items, household products, health and beauty products, and prepared meals.

The company operates through a portfolio of regional and national banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, ACME, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Pavilions, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Amigos, Carrs, Haggen, Star Market and Kings Food Markets.