Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stock Position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI - Free Report) by 142.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,584 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 35,051 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $1,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albertsons Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $298,302,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 55.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,150,522 shares of the company's stock worth $513,596,000 after acquiring an additional 9,308,940 shares during the period. Dendur Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $49,100,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,310,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $713,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,875 shares during the period. Finally, Candlestick Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Albertsons Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $30,376,000. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACI. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.36.

Albertsons Companies Price Performance

NYSE ACI traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, reaching $22.23. 1,230,202 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,615,149. The stock has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.00 and a 12 month high of $23.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $18.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.78 billion. Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 1.30% and a return on equity of 44.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Albertsons Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Albertsons Companies news, EVP Omer Gajial sold 47,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.46, for a total transaction of $1,015,122.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 162,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,488,730.74. This represents a 22.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.