Brokerages Set Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Price Target at $3.08

Shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price 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. Scotiabank lowered shares of Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ambev in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $2.85 price target on shares of Ambev in a report on Tuesday, August 11th.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $3.08, for a total value of $1,441,563.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,240,000. This trade represents a 13.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ambev

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ambev by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 146,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 23,441 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Ambev in the 2nd quarter valued at about $770,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 712.8% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,837,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,770,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611,577 shares in the last quarter. Maven Securities LTD purchased a new position in Ambev in the second quarter valued at about $628,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ambev by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 349,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 4,437 shares in the last quarter. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ambev Stock Down 1.2%

ABEV stock opened at $2.94 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.04. 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 market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.64. Ambev has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $3.45.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $3.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ambev will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ambev’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.00%.

Ambev Company 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.