Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI – Get Rating) – Oppenheimer equity analysts cut their third-quarter 2023 EPS estimates for Albertsons Companies in a research note released to investors on Tuesday, October 18. Oppenheimer analyst R. Parikh now expects the company to post earnings of $0.61 per share for the quarter, down from its previous forecast of $0.63. The consensus estimate for the current annual earnings of the Albertsons Companies is $2.77 per share.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI – Get Rating) last reported results on Tuesday, October 18. The company reported EPS of $0.72 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.07. Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 63.97%. The company posted revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, versus a consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. In the same period a year earlier, the company earned earnings per share of $0.64. Albertsons Companies quarterly revenue increased 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on ACI recently. Guggenheim cut shares of Albertsons Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered its price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a Wednesday, July 27 report. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered its price target for the stock from $37.00 to $27.00 in a report of search Thursday. Citigroup cut its price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $36.00 to $30.00 in a Thursday, July 28 research report. Finally, TheStreet upgraded the shares of Albertsons Companies from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a Friday, September 2 research report. Seven equity research analysts gave the stock a hold rating and one gave the company a buy rating. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.85.

Price performance of Albertsons companies

ACI shares opened at $27.50 on Friday. Albertsons Companies has a 1 year minimum of $24.34 and a 1 year maximum of $37.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.18 and a two-hundred-day simple moving average of $28.63. The company has a debt ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Albertsons Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 14. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 31 will receive a dividend of $0.12. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.48 and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 28. The Albertsons Companies dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albertsons Companies

In other Albertsons Companies news, CAO Robert Bruce Larson sold 35,000 shares in a trade that took place on Monday, August 1. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.79, for a total value of $937,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the accounting director now owns 80,241 shares of the company, valued at $2,149,656.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via this hyperlink. Separately, Executive Vice President Susan Morris sold 252,003 shares of the company in a trade that took place on Tuesday, August 9. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $7,119,084.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 638,928 shares of the company, valued at $18,049,716. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via this link. Additionally, CAO Robert Bruce Larson sold 35,000 shares of the company in a trade on Monday, August 1. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.79, for a total value of $937,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 80,241 shares of the company, valued at $2,149,656.39. The disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,787,003 shares of the company valued at $309,126,735 in the past 90 days. 1.10% of the shares are held by insiders.

Hedge funds weigh on Albertsons companies

Several large investors have recently increased or reduced their stake in ACI. FMR LLC increased its stake in Albertsons Companies by 290.1% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,694,970 shares of the company valued at $606,409,000 after purchasing an additional 16,876,785 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Albertsons Companies by 246.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,406,986 shares of the company valued at $246,282,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268,640 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 15.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,091,365 shares of the company valued at $162,760,000 after purchasing an additional 827,372 shares last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 2.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,928,873 shares of the company valued at $163,887,000 after purchasing an additional 132,874 shares last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management LP increased its stake in the shares of Albertsons Companies by 331.9% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management LP now owns 3,927,478 shares of the company valued at $104,942,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018,176 shares in the last quarter. 63.92% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors.

Company Profile of Albertsons Companies

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Albertsons Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates grocery stores and pharmacies in the United States. The Company’s food and drug stores offer groceries, general merchandise, health and beauty care products, pharmaceuticals, fuel and other items and services. It also manufactures and processes food products for sale in stores.

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