Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Shares Sold by Wolverine Asset Management LLC

Wolverine Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 70.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,422 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 88.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,841,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,887,688 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 7.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,063,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,229,000 after acquiring an additional 592,711 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,615,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,213,000 after acquiring an additional 141,933 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP lifted its position 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 worth $157,946,000 after buying an additional 1,585,899 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Albertsons Companies by 25.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,170,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,033,000 after buying an additional 1,239,978 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albertsons Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.21.

Albertsons Companies Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Albertsons Companies stock opened at $20.54 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.54, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.51. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.00 and a 1-year high of $21.75.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $18.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.82 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Albertsons Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

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.