Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $2.5267.

ABEV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.88 price objective on shares of Ambev in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oxbow Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ambev in the third quarter valued at about $2,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Ambev by 12.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,058,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,410,000 after acquiring an additional 3,864,844 shares during the last quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC increased its position in Ambev by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC now owns 3,962,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 412,189 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Ambev during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $362,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in Ambev during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,196,000. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ambev Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABEV opened at $2.78 on Friday. Ambev has a 1 year low of $1.80 and a 1 year high of $2.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.38.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04. Ambev had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 17.90%.The firm had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.97 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Ambev will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.049 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1,465.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. Ambev’s payout ratio is presently 183.33%.

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.