Canada: National Bank of Canada increases holdings in Molson Coors Beverage
National Bank of Canada FI has announced a significant increase in its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage shares, revealing that it has increased its stock ownership by 423.5% during the fourth quarter of last year. According to a recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the institutional investor acquired an additional 148,674 shares of the company’s stock. The bank now owns 183,781 shares of Molson Coors Beverage worth $9,468,000, which represents approximately 0.08% ownership of the company.
Molson Coors Beverage is a holding company operating in America and Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific regions. The firm primarily engages in beer production and sales through well-known brands such as Miller Lite and Blue Moon. On February 21st 2021, the company posted impressive quarterly earnings results where it reported C$1.30 earnings per share for the quarter; this exceeded analysts’ consensus estimates of C$1.06 by C$0.24 per share.
The business’s EMEA and APAC segment operates in various countries including UK, Romania, Serbia alongside other European countries as well as some countries within Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific region.
Despite maintaining strong financial performance over time — such as their recently reported Q4 numbers — Molson Coors Beverage is having to contend with increasing competition amongst established brewers with new craft beer offerings seeking to disrupt traditional brand hierarchy on retail shelves worldwide.
Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic led to mass disruptions along global supply chains negatively affecting some portions of Molson Coors operations like draft beer sales at bars across North America.
Going forward however there are bright spots in Molson’s outlook especially since many people took more alcoholic beverages due to lockdowns increasing home consumption demand for beer around the world.
Altogether though Director at National Bank of Canada FI now have even greater confidence placed on US domiciled Molson Coors as a holding trade.
Molson Coors Beverage Co., a global beer producer and seller, has recently attracted the interest of various institutional investors. According to reports, some hedge funds have either increased or reduced their stakes in the company. In particular, Trustcore Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Molson Coors Beverage during the third quarter valued at approximately C$29,000 while Dark Forest Capital Management LP invested in the company with an amount valued at C$31,000. Furthermore, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC also took a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage worth an estimated C$50,000.
Meanwhile, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Molson Coors by 96.4% during Q1 and now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at C$40,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares on the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. also invested with an amount priced at C$57,000; now owning 1,033 shares of Molson Coors’ stock which experienced an increase of 335.9% in the third quarter.
Institutional investors have taken over more than three-fourths of Molson Coors’ stock which is this time trading at C$51.94 on April 5, but with a 52-week high valuing it at around C$60.12 and a low estimate reaching up to C$46.69.The firm’s moving average price for fifty days equates to C$52.22 while for two hundred days, it measures up to C$51.37.Even though stocks are being held by institutional investors predominantly, the corporation carries relatively modest debt-to-equity ratio positioning it as one of those highly attractive companies that offer sustainable outlooks when it comes to investing.
The holding company still thrives amidst various competitors however, the recent change was mainly due to a shift from traditional ways among consumers who used to prefer ingesting hard liquor products, and with current circumstances brought about by the ongoing pandemic and quarantine regulations, consumption of beer products have transitioned to mostly online.
Molson Coors Beverage now operates in two different segments: Americas, and EMEA and APAC which covers Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, the UK, various other European countries, and certain countries within the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. There has also been a recent announcement by Molson Coors involving its quarterly dividend payment to stockholders which increased from C$0.38 to C$0.41 which was paid in March 2021.
Molson Coors’ market trends and financial information are closely monitored by equity research analysts as well. The majority of Bloomberg investors gave a “hold” rating for Molson, a recommendation shared by four analysts that rated it as “sell.” On the other hand, three others issued a buy rating for Molson Coors’ stock with credit Suisse Group boosting their target price on shares from C$46.00 to C$49.00 despite rendering it an underperform rating.
Overall, Molson Coors remains stable amidst challenges brought about by unpredictable situations such as pandemics with innovation and market adaptability contributing largely in keeping its business running even with new players entering their industry. One’s interest may be intrigued how will Molson keep up with changes yet continues to remain competitive in this sector of dynamic growth for years to come–a question whose answer is still uncertain however as uncertainty looms over us, it appears one can only look steadily towards progress of this global brand while taking calculated risks when it comes to investing knowledgeably.
06 April, 2023
