Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings cut Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Bank of America cut Ambev from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $3.30 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group set a $2.85 target price on shares of Ambev in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Scotiabank cut Ambev from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ambev from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.01.

Ambev Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:ABEV opened at $2.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.06. Ambev has a 52-week low of $2.28 and a 52-week high of $3.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.02.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Ambev had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 18.13%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ambev will post 0.20 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ambev

In related news, insider Carla Smith De Vasconcellos Crippa Prado sold 60,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.09, for a total transaction of $187,739.13. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 80,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,384.63. The trade was a 42.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ambev by 0.7% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 349,323,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,096,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,338,660 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Ambev by 6.5% during the first 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 during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Ambev by 2.2% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 10,779,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,477,000 after purchasing an additional 231,992 shares during the last quarter. Formuepleje A S acquired a new position in shares of Ambev during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $23,610,000. Finally, DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in Ambev during the 1st quarter worth $14,778,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Ambev News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ambev this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Ambev’s board approved a new two-year program to repurchase up to 190 million shares. The company also completed a prior program and canceled 279 million repurchased shares, which could support per-share value by reducing the share count. Ambev share buyback program
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly earnings per share were $0.05, matching analyst expectations, while Ambev reported a 17.48% return on equity and an 18.47% net margin. Ambev fiscal third-quarter earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Ambev filed its October Form 6-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and discussed third-quarter results with analysts. The earnings-call materials provide additional detail on performance and the outlook, but the headline results were broadly in line with expectations. Ambev Form 6-K filing
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue of $4.17 billion fell short of the $4.21 billion consensus estimate, and reports characterized third-quarter profit as down 10%. The revenue miss and weaker profit trend likely outweighed the in-line EPS result. Ambev third-quarter profit report
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays lowered its price target for ABEV from $3.50 to $3.00 and maintained an “equal weight” rating. Although the new target still implies potential upside, the reduction signals more cautious expectations for the brewer’s growth and valuation. Barclays Ambev price target

About Ambev

Ambev SA is a Brazilian beverage company headquartered in São Paulo and one of the largest beverage producers in Latin America. Its principal business is the production, distribution and sale of beer, although it also offers soft drinks, carbonated beverages, bottled water, energy drinks and other non-alcoholic products.

The company’s beer portfolio includes brands such as Brahma, Skol, Antarctica, Bohemia, Original, Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona, with brand availability varying by market.