Blair William & Co. IL Sells 736 Shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 736 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Constellation Brands were worth $6,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,534,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,433,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,969 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Constellation Brands by 6.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,048,000 after purchasing an additional 402,211 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Constellation Brands by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,176,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,919,000 after buying an additional 253,445 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Constellation Brands by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,853,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,515,000 after buying an additional 21,454 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Constellation Brands by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,782,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,035,000 after buying an additional 38,786 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Constellation Brands from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Constellation Brands from $300.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Constellation Brands from $270.00 to $260.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Constellation Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Roth Capital dropped their target price on shares of Constellation Brands from $298.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.18.

Constellation Brands Price Performance

Shares of STZ stock opened at $183.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.50. Constellation Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $160.46 and a one year high of $274.87. The firm has a market cap of $33.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.75.

Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.33 by ($0.08). Constellation Brands had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 6.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Constellation Brands, Inc. will post 13.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Constellation Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.01 dividend. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Constellation Brands’s payout ratio is currently 108.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Constellation Brands news, Director William T. Giles acquired 1,000 shares of Constellation Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $186.39 per share, with a total value of $186,390.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,463 shares in the company, valued at $272,688.57. This trade represents a 215.98 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 12.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Constellation Brands Company Profile

Constellation Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Familiar, Corona Hard Seltzer, Corona Light, Corona Non-Alcoholic, Corona Premier, Corona Refresca, Modelo Especial, Modelo Chelada, Modelo Negra, Modelo Oro, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands.