Albertsons Companies Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ACI)

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 14,743 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 69% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,743 call options.

Institutional Trading of Albertsons Companies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albertsons Companies in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Albertsons Companies by 108.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Albertsons Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albertsons Companies by 2,948.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Albertsons Companies by 133.3% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 4,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $27.25 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.45.

Albertsons Companies Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACI traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.51. 1,070,505 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,995,539. The stock has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.21. Albertsons Companies has a 52-week low of $17.80 and a 52-week high of $23.53.

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

Albertsons Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Albertsons Companies’s payout ratio is 21.52%.

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.