WMS Group LLC Sells 10,912 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

WMS Group LLC cut its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 75.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,528 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,912 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,303,000 after buying an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,173,000 after buying an additional 12,050 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,738,000 after buying an additional 95,606 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,000 after buying an additional 26,419 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MNST. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $96.38 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $97.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.58. The company has a market capitalization of $94.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.