CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Grows Stock Position in Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV - Free Report) by 101.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,639,612 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,862,672 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.10% of Ambev worth $29,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABEV. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ambev by 51.9% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 196,676,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $363,851,000 after buying an additional 67,180,274 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Ambev by 1,641.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,001,985 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,154,000 after purchasing an additional 17,911,122 shares during the period. FIL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ambev during the 4th quarter valued at $13,412,000. CORDA Investment Management LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ambev in the 4th quarter valued at $11,987,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Ambev by 39.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 18,519,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,892,000 after acquiring an additional 5,283,746 shares in the last quarter. 8.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ABEV shares. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ambev from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered Ambev from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com started coverage on Ambev in a report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Ambev from $2.50 to $2.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut Ambev from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ambev currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $2.45.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of Ambev stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $2.45. 30,939,714 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,053,369. The company has a market cap of $38.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Ambev S.A. has a 12-month low of $1.76 and a 12-month high of $2.56. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $2.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.12.

Ambev (NYSE:ABEV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.01). Ambev had a net margin of 17.02% and a return on equity of 16.12%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.42 billion. Analysts expect that Ambev S.A. will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ambev Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.0221 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Ambev's dividend payout ratio is 52.94%.

Ambev Company Profile

Ambev SA, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, and sale of beer, draft beer, carbonated soft drinks, malt and food, other alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic and non-carbonated products in Brazil, Central America and Caribbean, Latin America South, and Canada. It offers beer primarily under the Skol, Brahma, Antarctica, Brahva, Budweiser, Bud Light, Beck, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Balboa ICE, Balboa, Atlas Golden Light, Atlas, Bucanero, Cristal, Mayabe, Presidente, Presidente Light, Brahma Light, Bohemia, The One, Corona, Modelo Especial, Stella Artois, Quilmes Clásica, Paceña, Taquiña, Huari, Becker, Cusqueña, Michelob Ultra, Busch, Pilsen, Ouro Fino, Bud 66, Banks, Deputy, Patricia, Labatt Blue, Alexander Keith's, and Kokanee brands.