Heartland Advisors Inc. Has $1.42 Million Stake in The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM)

Heartland Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,101 shares of the company’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Boston Beer were worth $1,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SAM. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,922,000 after purchasing an additional 13,951 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Boston Beer in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,010,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Boston Beer during the fourth quarter worth about $64,490,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Boston Beer in the fourth quarter worth about $1,109,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,433,000 after purchasing an additional 45,864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SAM. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Boston Beer from $257.00 to $250.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Boston Beer from $390.00 to $355.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boston Beer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $335.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on Boston Beer from $350.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Boston Beer from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $333.93.

Insider Activity

In other Boston Beer news, insider Carolyn L. O’boyle sold 101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.49, for a total value of $30,652.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,029 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,231.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Boston Beer Trading Down 1.8 %

SAM stock traded down $5.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $277.24. The stock had a trading volume of 26,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 158,939. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $290.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.88. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $264.63 and a 1-year high of $395.52.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.96. Boston Beer had a return on equity of 10.11% and a net margin of 4.60%. The company had revenue of $426.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.18 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Boston Beer Company, Inc. will post 10.34 EPS for the current year.

About Boston Beer

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, flavored malt beverages, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, and Coney Island brand names.