Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Purchases New Holdings in Ambev S.A. $ABEV

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 278,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABEV. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ambev during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $166,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ambev in the first quarter worth $70,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Ambev by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,488,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,147,000 after buying an additional 174,599 shares during the last quarter. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ambev in the fourth quarter worth $193,000. Finally, Advisortrust Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ambev in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ambev from $2.65 to $2.90 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ambev has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $3.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paulo Andre Zagman sold 136,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.41, for a total value of $464,612.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 230,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,124.35. This trade represents a 37.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABEV opened at $3.10 on Friday. Ambev S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $3.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market capitalization of $48.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.94.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. Ambev had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 17.69%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ambev S.A. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.0092 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 24th. Ambev’s dividend payout ratio is 10.53%.

Ambev 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.