Short Interest in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Increases By 117.7%

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,030,000 shares, an increase of 117.7% from the February 28th total of 9,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 4.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albertsons Companies

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albertsons Companies by 108.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 225.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the last quarter. WealthCollab LLC increased its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 446.0% during the fourth quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,454 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 316.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ossiam bought a new position in Albertsons Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six equities research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Stock Up 2.1 %

ACI stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.61. The stock had a trading volume of 4,142,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,035,576. The business has a 50-day moving average of $20.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.64. 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 firm has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.50. Albertsons Companies has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $22.05.

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

Albertsons Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Albertsons Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Albertsons Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

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.