Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) Short Interest Up 21.2% in December

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (NYSE:CCU) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, an increase of 21.2% from the December 15th total of 1,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 169,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days.

Compañía Cervecerías Unidas Stock Performance

NYSE:CCU opened at $11.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $11.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.27. 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 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 company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 1st were issued a $0.1498 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Compañía Cervecerías Unidas’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.10. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Compañía Cervecerías Unidas

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 184,970 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 2.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,892,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,006,000 after buying an additional 39,971 shares in the last quarter. Genesis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 33.9% during the third quarter. Genesis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,590,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,495,000 after buying an additional 402,593 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 75,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas by 37.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 79,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $903,000 after acquiring an additional 21,630 shares during the period. 24.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CCU. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Compañía Cervecerías Unidas from $10.50 to $9.40 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.03.

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.