Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Short Interest Update

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,820,000 shares, a decrease of 7.9% from the June 30th total of 13,920,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACI shares. Roth Mkm raised Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $27.25 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Roth Capital raised Albertsons Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Albertsons Companies from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.45.

Albertsons Companies Price Performance

Albertsons Companies stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $19.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,607,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,917,844. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.49. Albertsons Companies has a twelve month low of $19.33 and a twelve month high of $23.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.64.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $24.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.16 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 56.01% and a net margin of 1.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is currently 21.52%.

Institutional Trading of Albertsons Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACI. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Albertsons Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,023,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,404,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,305,000 after acquiring an additional 692,188 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 40.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 189,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,054,000 after acquiring an additional 54,130 shares during the last quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the fourth quarter worth $1,247,000. Finally, Segantii Capital Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Segantii Capital Management Ltd now owns 4,125,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,880,000 after acquiring an additional 790,207 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.