Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 331,704 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,943 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Molson Coors Beverage were worth $19,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 123.3% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 18,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 10,080 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 103.9% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 9,825 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $871,000. Finally, Wilsey Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 550,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,557,000 after buying an additional 8,679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.46% of the company’s stock.

Molson Coors Beverage Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE TAP opened at $60.34 on Thursday. Molson Coors Beverage has a one year low of $49.19 and a one year high of $68.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.69.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.71 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 9.34%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Molson Coors Beverage will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Molson Coors Beverage Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. This is a positive change from Molson Coors Beverage’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Molson Coors Beverage’s payout ratio is presently 35.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on TAP. Citigroup raised shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Molson Coors Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.39.

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.