Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $3.0767.

ABEV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Scotiabank lowered Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group set a $2.85 price objective on shares of Ambev in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ricardo Manuel Frangat Moreira sold 468,040 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,240,000. The trade was a 13.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABEV. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 663,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after purchasing an additional 76,423 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ambev by 0.7% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 349,323,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,096,875,000 after buying an additional 2,338,660 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ambev in the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,000. OceanIQ Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ambev during the second quarter worth approximately $651,000. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Ambev during the second quarter worth approximately $337,000. Institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Ambev Stock Performance

ABEV opened at $2.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $45.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3.03 and a 200-day moving average of $3.05. Ambev has a 52-week low of $2.10 and a 52-week high of $3.45.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.04. Ambev had a return on equity of 17.48% and a net margin of 18.47%.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 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.0092 per share. 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 (DPR) is 15.00%.

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.