Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.01.

ABEV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Ambev from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $2.65 price target on Ambev and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Ambev from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider De Lacerda Eduardo Cavalcanti sold 152,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total value of $434,300.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 223,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,519. This represents a 40.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ambev

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 7.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 62,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 4,121 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new stake in shares of Ambev in the first quarter worth $14,778,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 20.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 56,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 9,704 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 61.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 872,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,548,000 after acquiring an additional 332,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ambev in the first quarter worth $40,000. 8.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of ABEV stock opened at $3.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $51.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $3.00 and its 200 day moving average is $2.75. Ambev has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $3.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. Ambev had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 17.69%. Research analysts expect that Ambev will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.