Maven Securities LTD Invests $628,000 in Ambev S.A. $ABEV

Maven Securities LTD purchased a new stake in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABEV. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Ambev by 291.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 45,462,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,293,000 after buying an additional 33,842,540 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ambev by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,235,000 after buying an additional 14,468,963 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ambev by 248.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,445,000 after acquiring an additional 9,361,815 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Ambev by 74.8% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,740,155 shares during the period. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Ambev during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $14,778,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ambev

In related news, Director Manuel Moreira sold 468,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.08, for a total value of $1,441,563.20. Following the sale, the director owned 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,240,000. This represents a 13.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ambev Stock Performance

Shares of ABEV opened at $3.06 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market cap of $48.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.05. Ambev S.A. has a 12-month low of $2.10 and a 12-month high of $3.45.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. Ambev had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 17.48%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ambev S.A. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 23rd will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 10.00%.

Ambev 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.