Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 13,604 Shares of Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,450 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,604 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Molson Coors Beverage were worth $5,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 9,466.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,143,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,211,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,211 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,092,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 76.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,475,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,269 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 6.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,329,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 40.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,446,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,194,000 after purchasing an additional 988,864 shares during the last quarter. 78.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Tracey Joubert sold 2,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.37, for a total transaction of $167,285.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 60,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,654,679.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.73.

Molson Coors Beverage Price Performance

Shares of Molson Coors Beverage stock opened at $64.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.23. Molson Coors Beverage has a twelve month low of $55.67 and a twelve month high of $70.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 6.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Molson Coors Beverage will post 5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Molson Coors Beverage Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from Molson Coors Beverage’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Molson Coors Beverage’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.37%.

Molson Coors Beverage Company Profile

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.