Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Position Lifted by Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC

Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,787,300 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 343,674 shares during the period. Albertsons Companies makes up 2.4% of Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $35,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,310,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,875 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Albertsons Companies by 55.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,150,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,596,000 after buying an additional 9,308,940 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Albertsons Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $298,302,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $186,211,000 after acquiring an additional 428,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $159,213,000 after acquiring an additional 141,933 shares during the period. 71.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Albertsons Companies in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ACI stock opened at $21.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.00 and a 1 year high of $23.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $18.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.82 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. Albertsons Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Research analysts predict that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies 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.