LAKELAND, FL - After seeing three straight quarters of falling stock prices paired with rising sales under its new leadership, Publix has announced its first increase in both sales and stock prices after President and CEO Todd Jones took the reins. In Q4 of 2016 the company saw increases across the board, and reported an 11.1 percent increase over this quarter last year, along with a stock increase from $40.15 per share to $40.90 per share.

“I’m proud of our Publix associates — the owners of Publix — for continuing to make us a leader in our industry and providing a great shopping experience,” said Publix CEO & President Todd Jones, according to the company report.

Additional details from the report include:

• Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $544.5 million, compared to $521.1 million in 2015, an increase of 4.5 percent. Earnings per share for the fourth quarter increased to $0.71 for 2016, up from $0.68 per share in 2015.
• Net earnings for 2016 were $2.03 billion, compared to $1.97 billion for 2015, an increase of 3.1 percent. Earnings per share increased to $2.63 for 2016, up from $2.54 per share in 2015. Net earnings and earnings per share benefited from the extra week in 2016.
• Publix’s sales for the fourth quarter of 2016, a 14-week period, were $9.1 billion, an 11.1 percent increase from last year’s $8.2 billion, a 13-week period. The additional week in the fourth quarter of 2016 increased sales by 7.4 percent. Comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 increased 2.2 percent.

Effective March 1, 2017, Publix’s stock price increased from $40.15 per share to $40.90 per share. Publix stock is not publicly traded and is made available for sale only to current Publix associates and members of its Board of Directors. 

Publix currently operates 1,143 stores nationwide with around 189,500 employees.

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