Twin Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,146 Shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,476 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,146 shares during the quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Albertsons Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $298,302,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 55.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,150,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,596,000 after purchasing an additional 9,308,940 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 2,347,875 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,465,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trium Capital LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies in the fourth quarter worth $23,678,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albertsons Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Albertsons Companies stock opened at $21.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.02 and a 200 day moving average of $19.80. The company has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $23.20.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The company had revenue of $18.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies, Inc. 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Albertsons Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Albertsons Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

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.