Merit Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,056 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock after selling 1,539 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUD. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 11.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 10,367,287 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock worth $573,311,000 after buying an additional 1,077,724 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV during the third quarter worth about $38,876,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,507,181 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock worth $97,415,000 after buying an additional 309,977 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in the fourth quarter valued at about $136,630,000. Finally, Causeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 48.3% in the third quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 304,020 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock valued at $16,812,000 after purchasing an additional 99,006 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BUD. BNP Paribas lowered Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.70.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BUD opened at $60.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $105.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.46. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV has a 12-month low of $51.66 and a 12-month high of $66.24.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The consumer goods maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.06. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The business had revenue of $14.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.8722 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV’s previous annual dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.53%.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Profile

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV produces, distributes, exports, markets, and sells beer and beverages. It offers a portfolio of approximately 500 beer brands, which primarily include Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois; Beck's, Hoegaarden, Leffe, and Michelob Ultra; and Aguila, Antarctica, Bud Light, Brahma, Cass, Castle, Castle Lite, Cristal, Harbin, Jupiler, Modelo Especial, Quilmes, Victoria, Sedrin, and Skol brands.