Albertsons Companies Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ACI)

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 8,274 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average daily volume of 6,297 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Albertsons Companies in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Albertsons Companies from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albertsons Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.36.

Albertsons Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACI opened at $21.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. Albertsons Companies has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $23.20.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 44.70% and a net margin of 1.30%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Albertsons Companies will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Albertsons Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 33.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 2,347,875 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $298,302,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP lifted its position in Albertsons Companies by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 10,204,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,981 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Albertsons Companies by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,491,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,211,000 after purchasing an additional 428,506 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

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.