The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment 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. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $335.00.

SAM has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Boston Beer from $257.00 to $250.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Boston Beer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $335.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Boston Beer from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $337.00 target price on shares of Boston Beer in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Boston Beer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th.

Insider Activity at Boston Beer

In related news, insider Carolyn L. O’boyle sold 101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.49, for a total value of $30,652.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,029 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,231.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boston Beer

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 2.3% in the fourth 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 142,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,080,000 after acquiring an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Boston Beer by 65.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,433,000 after acquiring an additional 45,864 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Boston Beer by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 107,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Boston Beer by 1.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 70,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.13% of the company’s stock.

Boston Beer Price Performance

NYSE SAM opened at $297.24 on Monday. Boston Beer has a 1 year low of $254.40 and a 1 year high of $395.52. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $282.92 and a 200 day moving average of $314.92.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.96. The business had revenue of $426.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $414.18 million. Boston Beer had a return on equity of 10.11% and a net margin of 4.60%. Research analysts expect that Boston Beer will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Boston Beer Company Profile

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.