Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Ambev (NYSE:ABEV)

Ambev S.A. (NYSE:ABEV) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 4,854 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 494% compared to the typical daily volume of 817 call options.

Institutional Trading of Ambev

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Modern Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ambev during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in Ambev in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in Ambev during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Ambev in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Bensler LLC purchased a new position in Ambev in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. 8.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABEV. Barclays increased 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 reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.88 price objective on shares of Ambev in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ambev in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ambev from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ambev presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $2.69.

Ambev Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABEV traded down $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.96. 25,140,100 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,267,197. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Ambev has a 1 year low of $2.06 and a 1 year high of $3.24. The company has a market cap of $46.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $2.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.49.

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

Ambev Dividend Announcement

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

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.