Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Short Interest Update

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 38,435,879 shares, an increase of 109.4% from the July 30th total of 18,354,341 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 11,315,301 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $47.50 target price (up from $36.50) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $45.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $51.50 target price on Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.33.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.3%

MNST stock opened at $46.86 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $47.68 and its 200-day moving average is $43.05. The company has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a twelve month low of $30.88 and a twelve month high of $50.17.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.02% and a net margin of 23.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 43,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MNST. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings 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 last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,173,000 after purchasing an additional 12,050 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,303,000 after buying an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 70.7% during the 1st quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 85,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,218,000 after buying an additional 35,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,000 after buying an additional 26,419 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Monster Beverage

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.