The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) Shares Acquired by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM – Get Rating) by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,581 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 430 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Boston Beer were worth $1,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 58.1% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,292,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,701,000 after buying an additional 475,135 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Boston Beer by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 869,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,893,000 after purchasing an additional 10,709 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Boston Beer by 4.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 251,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,837,000 after purchasing an additional 10,704 shares during the period. Candlestick Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Boston Beer in the second quarter valued at about $36,356,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in Boston Beer in the first quarter valued at about $38,859,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Boston Beer from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $315.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Boston Beer from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $331.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Boston Beer to $410.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Boston Beer in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on shares of Boston Beer in a report on Monday, October 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Boston Beer has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $351.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boston Beer news, VP Annette N. Fritsch sold 150 shares of Boston Beer stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $407.89, for a total value of $61,183.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,059.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Boston Beer news, insider John C. Geist sold 5,000 shares of Boston Beer stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.73, for a total value of $2,063,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,961,292.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Annette N. Fritsch sold 150 shares of Boston Beer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $407.89, for a total transaction of $61,183.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,059.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,250 shares of company stock valued at $2,161,210. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Boston Beer Price Performance

Shares of SAM opened at $354.83 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $354.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $353.53. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $287.00 and a 1-year high of $457.63. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 165.81 and a beta of 1.00.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 20th. The company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $596.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $566.42 million. Boston Beer had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 9.55%. Boston Beer’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Boston Beer Company, Inc. will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Boston Beer

(Get Rating)

The Boston Beer Company, Inc produces and sells alcohol beverages primarily in the United States. The company's flagship beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It offers various beers, hard ciders, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly Hard Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, Coney Island, Concrete Beach brand names.