TCW Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

TCW Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,515,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,033,323,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296,466 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 11,622,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,557,000 after acquiring an additional 330,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $517,035,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,638,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $404,467,000 after acquiring an additional 243,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,211,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,238,000 after acquiring an additional 305,086 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MNST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. HSBC reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.32.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $52.70. The company had a trading volume of 7,137,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,545,818. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $55.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.07. The stock has a market cap of $54.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.74. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1-year low of $47.13 and a 1-year high of $61.22.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 22.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total value of $38,584,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 777,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,542,532. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.