Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Shares Sold by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC lowered its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 86,008 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,314 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $1,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACI. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $324,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 206,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,820,000 after acquiring an additional 97,244 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 7.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 47,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $879,000 after acquiring an additional 14,266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Stock Performance

Albertsons Companies stock opened at $21.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.11 and a 200-day moving average of $19.85. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.00 and a 52 week high of $23.20.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $18.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.82 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.