Analysts Set Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Target Price at $22.75

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.75.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Telsey Advisory Group raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Albertsons Companies from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Institutional Trading of Albertsons Companies

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 7,887,688 shares during the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 22.8% during the third quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 8,546,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585,899 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $114,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239,978 shares during the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP increased 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 valued at $21,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,246 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Albertsons Companies by 38.7% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Albertsons Companies Stock Performance

Shares of ACI stock opened at $19.63 on Friday. Albertsons Companies has a 52 week low of $17.00 and a 52 week high of $23.47. The company has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $18.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.47 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 49.50% and a net margin of 1.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albertsons Companies will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is 28.07%.

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.