Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Lowers Position in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its stake in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 94.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,039,586 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $1,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Albertsons Companies by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,310,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,131,000 after buying an additional 2,347,875 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $298,302,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Albertsons Companies by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,063,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,229,000 after purchasing an additional 592,711 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Albertsons Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,615,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,213,000 after purchasing an additional 141,933 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Albertsons Companies by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,384,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,465,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Albertsons Companies Trading Down 1.1 %

ACI stock opened at $21.12 on Friday. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $23.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last released 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. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. The firm had revenue of $18.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACI. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Friday. Finally, 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. Six 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Company 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.