Short Interest in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) Rises By 37.7%

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 673,800 shares, an increase of 37.7% from the September 15th total of 489,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 192,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE CCU traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $11.20. The company had a trading volume of 14,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,603. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas has a fifty-two week low of $10.00 and a fifty-two week high of $13.74. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $11.04 and its 200 day moving average is $11.71.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas (NYSE:CCU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The company had revenue of $561.95 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Compañía Cervecerías Unidas will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCU. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 124.3% in the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 760,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,118,000 after buying an additional 421,374 shares during the last quarter. Genesis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Genesis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,590,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,495,000 after buying an additional 402,593 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,121,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 15,741,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,143,000 after buying an additional 184,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 166,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after buying an additional 75,147 shares during the last quarter. 24.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $12.90 to $10.50 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.88.

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.