Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ambev from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.88 target price on shares of Ambev in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ambev from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ambev presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.69.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABEV opened at $2.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.64. Ambev has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $3.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. Ambev had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 16.41%. Analysts forecast that Ambev will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Ambev by 291.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 45,462,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,293,000 after buying an additional 33,842,540 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Ambev by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 172,969,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,235,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468,963 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Ambev by 248.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,135,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,445,000 after acquiring an additional 9,361,815 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Ambev by 74.8% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Ambev by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,058,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,410,000 after purchasing an additional 3,864,844 shares during the period. 8.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.