UBS Group Lowers Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) to Neutral

UBS Group lowered shares of Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM – Get Rating) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $328.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $600.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on SAM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Boston Beer from $420.00 to $337.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Boston Beer from $600.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Boston Beer from $500.00 to $375.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 22nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Boston Beer from a c rating to a d+ rating in a report on Thursday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Boston Beer from $424.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Sunday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $487.14.

Shares of SAM stock opened at $329.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Boston Beer has a 12-month low of $287.00 and a 12-month high of $1,059.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.17 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $343.17 and its 200 day moving average is $401.91.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 21st. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($2.21). The firm had revenue of $430.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $444.80 million. Boston Beer had a negative net margin of 2.64% and a positive return on equity of 9.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Boston Beer will post 12.11 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, VP David L. Grinnell sold 425 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.21, for a total value of $146,714.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,611 shares in the company, valued at $556,133.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John C. Geist sold 1,008 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.98, for a total transaction of $391,083.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,843,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Boston Beer by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. now owns 3,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,699,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its stake in Boston Beer by 4.8% during the first quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 592 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Boston Beer by 5.7% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 559 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Boston Beer by 1.3% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 15.8% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.12% of the company’s stock.

About Boston Beer (Get Rating)

The Boston Beer Company, Inc produces and sells alcohol beverages primarily in the United States. The company's flagship beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It offers various beers, hard ciders, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly Hard Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, Coney Island, Concrete Beach brand names.

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