Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases New Position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 82,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,819,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 55.3% during the 4th 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $298,302,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Albertsons Companies by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 10,204,862 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Albertsons Companies by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,491,772 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,211,000 after buying an additional 428,506 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACI has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $31.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.21.

Albertsons Companies Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of ACI stock traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $22.13. 8,552,036 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,939,424. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $21.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.14. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.00 and a 12-month high of $23.20. The stock has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $18.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 41.03%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. Albertsons Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albertsons Companies

In related news, EVP Omer Gajial sold 47,303 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 162,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,488,730.74. This trade represents a 22.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.35% of the stock is owned by company 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.