Anheuser-Busch Shares Fall to Lowest in Six Years

Shares of Anheuser-Busch were falling on Thursday in pre-market trading after the company reported third quarter results and announced that it would cut its dividend in half.

The stock fell to a six-year low on the news. According to the company, dividends will increase over time but the short term growth is modest.

“In the last six months, we’ve seen a lot of [currency] volatility,” remarked Chief Financial Officer Felipe Dutra to reporters according to Reuters. “This scenario triggers some sort of uncertainty and at a certain point … we thought it was the right time to adjust the dividend.”

For the quarter, the company’s beer sales had fallen 1.5% to retailers and 0.5% to wholesalers.

Following the earnings, analysts chimed in on their remarks with Bank of America analyst Paul Steegers reiterated an Underperform rating and a price objective of $81.80.

Macquarie Research analyst Caroline Levy reiterated an Outperform rating and a price target of $82.22 and Morgan Stanley analyst Olivier Nicolai reiterated an Overweight rating and a price target of $113.80 USD.

“As we expected, the AB InBev Board has approved a 50% dividend cut to help with its deleveraging goals,” Levy remarked.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (NYSE: BUD) and have not been compensated for this article.