Traders Buy Large Volume of Ambev Call Options (NYSE:ABEV)

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 4,854 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 494% compared to the average volume of 817 call options.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 33,842,540 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Ambev by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,235,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468,963 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Ambev by 248.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,445,000 after acquiring an additional 9,361,815 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Ambev by 74.8% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,409,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,740,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Ambev by 12.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,058,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,410,000 after acquiring an additional 3,864,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABEV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $2.88 target price on shares of Ambev in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ambev from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Ambev from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $2.69.

Ambev Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of ABEV traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.96. The company had a trading volume of 25,140,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,267,197. The stock has a market cap of $46.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Ambev has a 52 week low of $2.06 and a 52 week high of $3.24.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. Ambev had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 17.75%.The business had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ambev will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

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

About Ambev

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.