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

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 given 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Albertsons Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

Albertsons Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years. Albertsons Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 20.3% meaning 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 %

Albertsons Companies stock opened at $19.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.31. Albertsons Companies has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $23.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACI. Melius Research raised Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albertsons Companies from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius upgraded shares of Albertsons Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Albertsons Companies in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Albertsons Companies from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

About Albertsons Companies

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.