HighTower Advisors LLC Has $3.74 Million Stock Position in Diageo plc $DEO

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO) by 47.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,327 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,498 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diageo were worth $3,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Diageo during the fourth quarter worth about $95,000. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its position in shares of Diageo by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Diageo by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 570,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,178,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL raised its position in shares of Diageo by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 3,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Diageo during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. 8.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diageo Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of Diageo stock opened at $82.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Diageo plc has a 52 week low of $72.45 and a 52 week high of $116.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.16.

Diageo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a yield of 195.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 17th.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DEO shares. Argus upgraded Diageo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research raised Diageo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Diageo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. BNP Paribas Exane raised Diageo from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, HSBC cut Diageo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.50.

Diageo Profile

Diageo plc is a global producer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic beverages, headquartered in London, England. The company was created through the 1997 merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc and is publicly traded on multiple exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange. Diageo operates a worldwide business, selling products in a broad range of markets across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Diageo’s core activities cover the production, marketing and sale of a diverse portfolio of spirits, beer and liqueurs.