Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on ABEV. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ambev from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ambev from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.69.

Ambev Stock Performance

Shares of ABEV opened at $2.81 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.64. Ambev has a 52-week low of $2.10 and a 52-week high of $3.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.58.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 13th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. Ambev had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 16.41%. Research analysts predict that Ambev will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Ambev by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,488,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,147,000 after buying an additional 174,599 shares during the period. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ambev in the 4th quarter worth $193,000. Advisortrust Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ambev in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ambev by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,850,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,041,000 after acquiring an additional 25,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S Harris Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ambev in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.13% of the company’s stock.

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.