Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ABEV. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ambev in a report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group set a $2.85 target price on Ambev in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ambev currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.08.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of ABEV opened at $2.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.65. Ambev has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $3.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.04 and a 200-day moving average of $3.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04. Ambev had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 17.48%. The company had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ambev will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Ambev

In other Ambev news, Director Ricardo Manuel Frangat Moreira sold 468,040 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.08, for a total value of $1,441,563.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $9,240,000. This trade represents a 13.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABEV. OceanIQ Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ambev in the 2nd quarter valued at about $651,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in Ambev during the second quarter worth about $337,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in Ambev by 37.5% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 20,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 5,614 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Ambev by 18.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 164,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 26,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Ambev by 9.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 887,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,786,000 after buying an additional 74,965 shares during the last quarter. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.