Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Receives $3.08 Consensus PT from Analysts

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) has earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.0767.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank cut Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group set a $2.85 target price on shares of Ambev in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Ambev Price Performance

ABEV opened at $2.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $45.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.65. Ambev has a 12 month low of $2.10 and a 12 month high of $3.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.05.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.04. Ambev had a return on equity of 17.48% and a net margin of 18.47%.The firm had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Ambev will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 23rd will be paid a $0.0092 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Ambev’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ambev news, Director Ricardo Manuel Frangat Moreira sold 468,040 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.08, for a total transaction of $1,441,563.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,240,000. This represents a 13.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABEV. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Ambev by 291.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 45,462,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,293,000 after acquiring an additional 33,842,540 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ambev by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,468,963 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ambev by 248.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,445,000 after purchasing an additional 9,361,815 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Ambev by 74.8% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,740,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in Ambev in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,778,000. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ambev

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.