Albertsons Companies, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.12 (NYSE:ACI)

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 11th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th.

Albertsons Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 68.7% per year over the last three years. Albertsons Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 18.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Albertsons Companies to earn $2.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.1%.

Albertsons Companies Price Performance

NYSE:ACI opened at $20.39 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.50. Albertsons Companies has a 1 year low of $19.88 and a 1 year high of $23.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.19.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 9th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $18.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.36 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 83.38% and a net margin of 1.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACI. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $27.25 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACI. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 99.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,729,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,208,000 after purchasing an additional 7,848,362 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 95.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,614,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,181,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613,034 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $112,083,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 108.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,658,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,281,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,188 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 135.3% in the 1st quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,863,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,646,110 shares during the period. 71.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.