Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) Short Interest Up 9.9% in October

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 740,800 shares, a growth of 9.9% from the September 30th total of 673,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 195,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $21.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $12.90 to $10.50 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Compañía Cervecerías Unidas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.36.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of CCU stock opened at $11.34 on Wednesday. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas has a 52 week low of $10.00 and a 52 week high of $13.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.87.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas (NYSE:CCU) last released 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 business had revenue of $561.95 million for the quarter. Analysts predict that Compañía Cervecerías Unidas will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compañía Cervecerías Unidas

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 15,741,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,143,000 after purchasing an additional 184,970 shares during the period. Genesis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 33.9% in the third quarter. Genesis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,590,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,495,000 after purchasing an additional 402,593 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 124.3% during the first 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 period. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,121,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 82.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 166,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,897,000 after buying an additional 75,147 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.07% of the company’s stock.

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.