Ambev S.A. $ABEV Shares Sold by Westwood Global Investments LLC

Westwood Global Investments LLC cut its holdings in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,488,754 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,338,106 shares during the quarter. Ambev comprises about 0.0% of Westwood Global Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Westwood Global Investments LLC owned 0.64% of Ambev worth $226,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Ambev by 74.8% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,624,000 after buying an additional 5,740,155 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Ambev by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,058,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,410,000 after purchasing an additional 3,864,844 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Ambev by 192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,208,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,770,698 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Ambev by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,505,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,288,000 after buying an additional 2,479,310 shares during the period. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Ambev by 12,937.7% during the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,385,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,750,000 after buying an additional 2,367,600 shares in the last quarter. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ambev Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE ABEV opened at $2.84 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.55. Ambev S.A. has a 52 week low of $2.10 and a 52 week high of $3.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. Ambev had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 16.41%. On average, research analysts predict that Ambev S.A. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.88 target price on shares of Ambev in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ambev from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Ambev from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.69.

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.