Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $2.88 price target on shares of Ambev in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ambev from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $2.69.

Ambev Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE ABEV opened at $3.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Ambev has a one year low of $1.87 and a one year high of $3.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.45.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.05. Ambev had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The business had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Ambev will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd were issued a $0.049 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. This represents a yield of 1,465.0%. Ambev’s payout ratio is currently 183.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABEV. Morgan Stanley raised 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. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Ambev by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,468,963 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ambev by 248.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,445,000 after purchasing an additional 9,361,815 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in shares of Ambev by 74.8% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,740,155 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Ambev by 12.0% during 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

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.