Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 848,300 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the October 15th total of 740,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 199,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas Stock Performance

Shares of CCU opened at $10.89 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $11.02 and its 200-day moving average is $11.55. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas has a 12 month low of $10.00 and a 12 month high of $13.74. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1498 per share. This is a positive change from Compañía Cervecerías Unidas’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas’s dividend payout ratio is 40.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas during the 2nd quarter worth $146,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 33,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 3,750 shares during the period. Malaga Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 57,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 16,396 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 79,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $903,000 after buying an additional 21,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from $10.50 to $9.40 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.08.

About Compañía Cervecerías Unidas

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas SA operates as a beverage company in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The company operates through three segments: Chile, International Business, and Wine. It produces and sells alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer under proprietary and licensed brands, as well as distributes Pernod Ricard products in non-supermarket retail stores.