Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 174,599 Shares of Ambev S.A. $ABEV

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,488,702 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174,599 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ambev were worth $6,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 33,842,540 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ambev by 9.1% during 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 last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Ambev by 248.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,445,000 after purchasing an additional 9,361,815 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Ambev by 74.8% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,740,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Ambev by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,505,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479,310 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ambev

In related news, insider Paulo Andre Zagman sold 136,250 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $786,124.35. This represents a 37.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABEV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ambev from $2.65 to $2.90 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ambev from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Barclays raised their price objective on Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.09.

Ambev Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE ABEV opened at $3.02 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Ambev S.A. has a 1 year low of $2.10 and a 1 year high of $3.45. The firm has a market cap of $47.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.64.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its 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 net margin of 17.69% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Ambev S.A. will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Investors 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 payout ratio is currently 10.53%.

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.