Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Lowers Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lowered its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,517 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,264 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $1,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 178.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 101,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,402,000 after buying an additional 64,986 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 4,209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at $4,687,368.09. This represents a 31.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 274,981 shares of company stock valued at $20,138,516 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Argus raised Monster Beverage to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.74.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $81.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.23. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $81.62. The company has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.29, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 21.65%.The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

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.