Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $2.82 and last traded at $2.8050, with a volume of 26485174 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $2.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABEV. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.88 price target on shares of Ambev in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $2.53.

Ambev Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $44.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.37.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.04. Ambev had a net margin of 17.90% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.97 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ambev S.A. will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Ambev Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABEV. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Ambev by 12.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,058,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,410,000 after buying an additional 3,864,844 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ambev by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,505,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479,310 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Ambev by 74.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Kiltearn Partners LLP increased its stake in Ambev by 5.6% in the third quarter. Kiltearn Partners LLP now owns 11,045,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,632,000 after acquiring an additional 590,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Ambev by 14.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,521,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,503 shares in the last quarter. 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.