Engineers Gate Manager LP Boosts Holdings in Ambev S.A. $ABEV

Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) by 712.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,837,660 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,611,577 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Ambev were worth $5,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ambev by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 349,323,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,096,875,000 after buying an additional 2,338,660 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ambev by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,235,000 after buying an additional 14,468,963 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Ambev by 291.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 45,462,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,293,000 after buying an additional 33,842,540 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Ambev by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,505,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479,310 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Ambev by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,354,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ABEV shares. Scotiabank lowered shares of Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $2.85 target price on shares of Ambev in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $3.08.

Insider Transactions at Ambev

In other news, Director Manuel Moreira sold 468,040 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ambev Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:ABEV opened at $3.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64. Ambev S.A. has a 12-month low of $2.10 and a 12-month high of $3.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $2.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.04 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Ambev S.A. will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd will be given a $0.0092 dividend. 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 1.2%. Ambev’s payout ratio is presently 10.00%.

Ambev Profile

Ambev SA is a Brazilian beverage company and one of the largest brewers in Latin America. The company produces, distributes and sells beer, carbonated soft drinks and other nonalcoholic beverages through a portfolio of local, regional and international brands.

Its beer portfolio includes brands such as Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, Bohemia, Original, Stella Artois and Budweiser, while its nonalcoholic beverage offerings include products marketed under brands such as Guaraná Antarctica and Pepsi.