Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on TAP. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $86.90 price objective on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.49.

Molson Coors Beverage Price Performance

NYSE TAP opened at $54.60 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Molson Coors Beverage has a 12-month low of $49.19 and a 12-month high of $64.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.73.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.80 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 8.17%. Molson Coors Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Molson Coors Beverage will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Molson Coors Beverage Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is an increase from Molson Coors Beverage’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Molson Coors Beverage’s payout ratio is currently 37.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TAP. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Molson Coors Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at $142,407,000. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can acquired a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $68,010,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 269.1% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,237,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,329,000 after acquiring an additional 902,296 shares during the period. Estuary Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $39,052,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 16.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,130,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,442,000 after acquiring an additional 595,203 shares during the period. 78.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Molson Coors Beverage

Molson Coors Beverage Company manufactures, markets, and sells beer and other malt beverage products under various brands in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers flavored malt beverages including hard seltzers, craft, spirits and energy, and ready to drink beverages.