Pzena Investment Management LLC Acquires 295,709 Shares of Ambev S.A. $ABEV

Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) by 6.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,717,328 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 295,709 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ambev were worth $13,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABEV. Kiltearn Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Ambev by 5.6% during the third quarter. Kiltearn Partners LLP now owns 11,045,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,632,000 after buying an additional 590,000 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its position in shares of Ambev by 187.7% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 2,128,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,263,000 after buying an additional 1,388,881 shares during the period. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV bought a new stake in shares of Ambev in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,727,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Ambev by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,588,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Ambev by 577.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 427,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 364,165 shares during the period. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paulo Andre Zagman sold 136,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.41, for a total transaction of $464,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 230,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,124.35. This trade represents a 37.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ambev Trading Down 0.2%

ABEV opened at $3.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Ambev S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.10 and a 12 month high of $3.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.94.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. Ambev had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 17.69%.The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ambev S.A. will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.0092 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 24th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ambev’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABEV. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of 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 upped their target price on shares of Ambev from $2.65 to $2.90 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ambev from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ambev from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $3.09.

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.