VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Sells 261,926 Shares of Molson Coors Beverage Company $TAP

Key Points

• VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al cut its Molson Coors stake by 43.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 261,926 shares and leaving it with 340,800 shares valued at about $15.9 million.
• Analysts have become more cautious on Molson Coors, with multiple firms trimming price targets; the stock’s consensus rating remains Hold and the average target price is $45.71.
• Molson Coors recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, posting $0.62 EPS versus $0.36 expected, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share to be paid June 12.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al reduced its stake in Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP - Free Report) by 43.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 340,800 shares of the company's stock after selling 261,926 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.17% of Molson Coors Beverage worth $15,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 534 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 64.2% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 565 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 134.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 787 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 78.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $52.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Andrew Thomas Molson bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.67 per share, for a total transaction of $93,340.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 24,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,150,602.18. This represents a 8.83% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.27% of the company's stock.

Molson Coors Beverage Price Performance

Shares of TAP opened at $41.44 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.90 and a beta of 0.44. Molson Coors Beverage Company has a 1-year low of $40.64 and a 1-year high of $57.57. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.33 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a negative net margin of 16.14% and a positive return on equity of 9.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Molson Coors Beverage Company will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Molson Coors Beverage Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Molson Coors Beverage's payout ratio is presently -18.05%.

About Molson Coors Beverage

Molson Coors Beverage Company is a leading multinational brewing and beverage enterprise formed through the 2005 merger of Canada's Molson and the United States' Coors. The company develops, markets and distributes an array of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, focusing primarily on beer and ready-to-drink products. Its portfolio spans flagship brands such as Coors Light, Molson Canadian and Miller Lite, alongside craft-style offerings like Blue Moon and global imports including Carling and Staropramen.

In addition to its core beer business, Molson Coors has expanded into adjacent categories to capture evolving consumer tastes.

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