Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 3.05%. This is an increase from Albertsons Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

Albertsons Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years. Albertsons Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 20.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACI opened at $19.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.31. Albertsons Companies has a 1-year low of $17.00 and a 1-year high of $23.47. The company has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.51.

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $18.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.47 billion. Albertsons Companies had a return on equity of 49.50% and a net margin of 1.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albertsons Companies will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ACI shares. Melius Research raised Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Melius raised Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Albertsons Companies in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Albertsons Companies from $24.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.