Albertsons Companies, Inc. $ACI Stock: Private Management Group Inc. Raises Position

Private Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,297,830 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 201,322 shares during the quarter. Albertsons Companies comprises about 1.0% of Private Management Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $38,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 11.8% during the 1st 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. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,179,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,258,000 after buying an additional 430,101 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $32,363,000 after buying an additional 578,401 shares in the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB grew its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 2,321,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,407,000 after buying an additional 285,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 53.4% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,209,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,896,000 after buying an additional 769,503 shares during the last quarter. 71.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albertsons Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:ACI opened at $12.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of -117.05, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.38. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.86 and a 1 year high of $18.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.84.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 13th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Albertsons Companies had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 52.17%. The firm had revenue of $18.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 23rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 23rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is presently -618.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACI. Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of Albertsons Companies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Albertsons Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America lowered shares of Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Albertsons Companies from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $13.42.

Albertsons Companies Company Profile

Albertsons Companies, Inc is a U.S. food and drug retailer headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Founded by Joe Albertson in 1939, the company operates grocery stores under banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s and Tom Thumb.

Its stores sell groceries, fresh produce, meat, bakery and deli items, household products and other everyday goods. Many locations also offer pharmacy services and fuel, while the company provides online ordering, pickup and home delivery.

Albertsons serves customers across multiple regions of the United States, with stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia.