Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) have earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $3.0933.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ambev from $2.65 to $2.90 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th.

Ambev Stock Down 1.4%

ABEV stock opened at $3.14 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.94. Ambev has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $3.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $49.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.64.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. Ambev had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 17.69%.The business had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.38 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Ambev will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be paid a $0.0092 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 24th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ambev’s dividend payout ratio is 10.53%.

Insider Activity at Ambev

In other news, insider Paulo Andre Zagman sold 136,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.41, for a total value of $464,612.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 230,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,124.35. This represents a 37.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,468,963 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 291.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 45,462,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,293,000 after purchasing an additional 33,842,540 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 9.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,505,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479,310 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 6.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,354,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 22,600,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,822,000 after purchasing an additional 874,657 shares during the last quarter. 8.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ambev Company Profile

Ambev (NYSE: ABEV) is a Brazilian-based beverage company that produces, distributes and markets a broad portfolio of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The company’s core business centers on brewing and selling beer, alongside a range of soft drinks, bottled water, energy drinks and other malt-based beverages. Headquartered in São Paulo, Ambev operates an integrated value chain that covers manufacturing, packaging, logistics and commercial sales to retail, on-premise and institutional customers.

The company traces its origins to the 1999 merger of two historic Brazilian breweries, and later became part of the broader global brewing group through subsequent industry consolidations.