Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Invests $584,000 in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 315,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ambev by 51.9% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 196,676,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,851,000 after buying an additional 67,180,274 shares during the last quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Ambev in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,987,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ambev by 39.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 18,519,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,283,746 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ambev during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,523,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Ambev during the third quarter worth approximately $3,259,000. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABEV. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ambev in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ambev from $2.50 to $2.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ambev in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America cut Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.45.

Ambev Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ambev stock opened at $2.35 on Wednesday. Ambev S.A. has a one year low of $1.76 and a one year high of $2.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.12. The company has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.94.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.01). Ambev had a net margin of 17.02% and a return on equity of 16.12%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.42 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Ambev S.A. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Ambev Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.0221 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Ambev’s payout ratio is 52.94%.

Ambev Company Profile

Ambev SA, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, and sale of beer, draft beer, carbonated soft drinks, malt and food, other alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic and non-carbonated products in Brazil, Central America and Caribbean, Latin America South, and Canada. It offers beer primarily under the Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, Brahva, Budweiser, Bud Light, Beck, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Balboa ICE, Balboa, Atlas Golden Light, Atlas, Bucanero, Cristal, Mayabe, Presidente, Presidente Light, Brahma Light, Bohemia, The One, Corona, Modelo Especial, Stella Artois, Quilmes Clásica, Paceña, Taquiña, Huari, Becker, Cusqueña, Michelob Ultra, Busch, Pilsen, Ouro Fino, Bud 66, Banks, Deputy, Patricia, Labatt Blue, Alexander Keith’s, and Kokanee brands.