Compania Cervecerias Unidas (NYSE:CCU) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas (NYSE:CCU) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CCU. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $12.00.

Compania Cervecerias Unidas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCU opened at $11.71 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Compania Cervecerias Unidas has a one year low of $10.71 and a one year high of $15.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.56.

Compania Cervecerias Unidas (NYSE:CCU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter. Compania Cervecerias Unidas had a net margin of 4.03% and a return on equity of 7.20%. The company had revenue of $948.09 million for the quarter. Analysts anticipate that Compania Cervecerias Unidas will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Compania Cervecerias Unidas

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCU. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Compania Cervecerias Unidas by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 7,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 54,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas by 7.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 27,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners boosted its position in shares of Compania Cervecerias Unidas by 917.9% during the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 2,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 2,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 24.07% of the company’s stock.

About Compania Cervecerias Unidas

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas SA (NYSE: CCU) is a Chile-based beverages company with operations across Latin America. The company engages in the production, marketing and distribution of beer, soft drinks, wines, mineral water and other non-alcoholic beverages. Through a combination of owned brands and licensing agreements, CCU serves both domestic and export markets with a diversified portfolio designed to meet evolving consumer tastes.

In its beer segment, CCU produces flagship brands such as Cristal, Escudo and Royal Guard, while also brewing international labels under license, including Heineken in select markets.