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

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading 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. 57,388 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 158,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $301.88.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on SAM. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Boston Beer in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Boston Beer from $281.00 to $277.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Boston Beer from $332.00 to $318.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Boston Beer from $300.00 to $309.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Boston Beer from $344.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $320.08.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boston Beer

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

Boston Beer Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.30.

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $4.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.99 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $579.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $597.33 million. Boston Beer had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company's revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Boston Beer Company, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.