Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Invests $33.39 Million in Molson Coors Beverage Company $TAP

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 715,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,386,000. Molson Coors Beverage makes up 1.6% of Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 29.4% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 18,631,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $843,063,000 after buying an additional 4,235,029 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,516,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $475,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693,682 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,425,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,249 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 265.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,922,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,400,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $125,755,000. 78.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Molson Coors Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of TAP opened at $39.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.41 and a 200-day moving average of $45.67. The company has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of -3.68 and a beta of 0.41. Molson Coors Beverage Company has a one year low of $38.04 and a one year high of $54.82.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.33 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a positive return on equity of 9.79% and a negative net margin of 16.14%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Molson Coors Beverage Company will post 4.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Molson Coors Beverage Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Molson Coors Beverage’s payout ratio is currently -18.05%.

Insider Activity at Molson Coors Beverage

In other news, Director Geoffrey E. Molson sold 1,245 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.50, for a total transaction of $52,912.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,871 shares in the company, valued at $419,517.50. The trade was a 11.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TAP. Evercore lowered their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Molson Coors Beverage from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on Molson Coors Beverage from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Molson Coors Beverage from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Molson Coors Beverage Company Profile

Molson Coors Beverage Company is a leading multinational brewing and beverage enterprise formed through the 2005 merger of Canada’s Molson and the United States’ Coors. The company develops, markets and distributes an array of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, focusing primarily on beer and ready-to-drink products. Its portfolio spans flagship brands such as Coors Light, Molson Canadian and Miller Lite, alongside craft-style offerings like Blue Moon and global imports including Carling and Staropramen.

In addition to its core beer business, Molson Coors has expanded into adjacent categories to capture evolving consumer tastes.