Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,447 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $7,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the 1st 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 period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 247.7% during the 2nd 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. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 151.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 20,538 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $90.15 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.55, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $90.49.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $7,624,652.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 in the last quarter. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.05.

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.