Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo downgraded Molson Coors to underweight from equal weight and cut its price target to $36 from $38, implying 14.8% downside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious: MarketBeat reports a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $42.94, with six sell, nine hold, and three buy ratings.
• In its latest quarter, Molson Coors earned $1.46 per share, slightly above estimates, while revenue of $2.93 billion missed consensus and declined 1.6% year over year.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $36.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $38.00. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential downside of 14.80% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on TAP. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Molson Coors Beverage from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Molson Coors Beverage from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Molson Coors Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $42.94.

Molson Coors Beverage Trading Down 2.1%

TAP stock opened at $42.25 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.36. Molson Coors Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $35.52 and a fifty-two week high of $54.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of -3.66 and a beta of 0.45.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a negative net margin of 17.83% and a positive return on equity of 9.46%. Molson Coors Beverage's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Molson Coors Beverage will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Molson Coors Beverage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TAP. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage during the second quarter valued at $58,423,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 10.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,363,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $360,117,000 after acquiring an additional 790,314 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the first quarter worth about $20,350,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 16.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,326,427 shares of the company's stock worth $143,236,000 after acquiring an additional 469,607 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 36.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,187,921 shares of the company's stock worth $51,152,000 after acquiring an additional 317,387 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.46% of the company's stock.

About Molson Coors Beverage

Molson Coors Beverage Company is a global beverage company best known for brewing and marketing beer. Its portfolio includes widely recognized brands such as Coors, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Molson Canadian, Carling, Blue Moon, Staropramen and Peroni Nastro Azzurro, along with hard seltzers, flavored alcoholic beverages and other adjacent products.

The company serves consumers through a broad network of breweries, distributors and retailers across North America, Europe and other international markets.

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