Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.15 Per Share

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share on Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. This is an increase from Albertsons Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

Albertsons Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years. Albertsons Companies has a payout ratio of 20.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Albertsons Companies to earn $2.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.9%.

Albertsons Companies Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACI opened at $19.80 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.31. Albertsons Companies has a 12-month low of $17.00 and a 12-month high of $23.47.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 49.50% and a net margin of 1.25%. The company had revenue of $18.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACI shares. Melius Research raised Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Melius raised shares of Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

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.