Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) Shares Down 4.8% After Analyst Downgrade

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM)’s share price was down 4.8% on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. Jefferies Financial Group now has a $325.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $355.00. Boston Beer traded as low as $282.75 and last traded at $287.49. Approximately 57,388 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 158,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $301.88.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SAM. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $389.00 price target on shares of Boston Beer in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Boston Beer from $332.00 to $318.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Boston Beer from $344.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Boston Beer from $281.00 to $277.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Boston Beer from $300.00 to $309.00 in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boston Beer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Boston Beer by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 918,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,425,000 after purchasing an additional 21,060 shares during the period. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Boston Beer during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Boston Beer by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,831,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Boston Beer by 74.0% during the first quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 58.0% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,927,000 after buying an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. 81.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Boston Beer Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $279.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.24.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $4.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.99 by ($0.60). Boston Beer had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company had revenue of $579.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $597.33 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Boston Beer Company, Inc. will post 9.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Boston Beer

The Boston Beer Company, Inc produces and sells alcohol beverages primarily in the United States. The company's flagship beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It offers various beers, hard ciders, flavored malt beverages, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, and Coney Island brand names.