Short Interest in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) Declines By 10.2%

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,390,000 shares, a decrease of 10.2% from the May 31st total of 2,660,000 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 15,623 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock worth $950,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 287.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 65,183 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock valued at $3,962,000 after purchasing an additional 48,376 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 36,795 shares of the consumer goods maker’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 7,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in the first quarter worth about $1,084,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BUD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from $70.00 to $68.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.13.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Price Performance

NYSE:BUD traded up $1.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,537,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,877,101. The company has a market capitalization of $107.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV has a 52-week low of $51.66 and a 52-week high of $67.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.05.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The consumer goods maker reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $14.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.43 billion. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 8.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.8722 per share. This is a boost from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV’s previous annual dividend of $0.61. This represents a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.31%.

About Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

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.