Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $219.16, but opened at $226.74. Boston Beer shares last traded at $228.14, with a volume of 32,491 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SAM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Boston Beer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Boston Beer from $315.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Boston Beer from $290.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Boston Beer from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $265.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Boston Beer from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Boston Beer has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.40.

Boston Beer Stock Up 0.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $275.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boston Beer

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 703,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,030,000 after buying an additional 29,412 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 422,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,821,000 after buying an additional 69,778 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 7.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 292,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,615,000 after buying an additional 21,276 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 225,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,723,000 after buying an additional 19,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Boston Beer by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 160,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,122,000 after buying an additional 34,176 shares during the last quarter. 81.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Boston Beer

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.