Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Albertsons Companies, Inc. $ACI

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,611 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,293 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Albertsons Companies were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $1,420,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 241.6% in the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 16,375 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $323,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Albertsons Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $1,329,000. 71.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Albertsons Companies news, EVP Michael T. Theilmann sold 100,000 shares of Albertsons Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.35, for a total value of $1,935,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 338,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,548,601.15. The trade was a 22.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Anuj Dhanda sold 230,000 shares of Albertsons Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.25, for a total transaction of $4,427,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 300,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,786,107.25. This trade represents a 43.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Wednesday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.50.

Albertsons Companies Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of Albertsons Companies stock opened at $19.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 11.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.49. Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.70 and a 52-week high of $23.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.43.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $24.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.68 billion. Albertsons Companies had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 36.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Albertsons Companies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 24th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 24th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is 35.50%.

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.