Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Bought by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 76.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 135,238 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,400 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $5,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MNST. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,770,004,000. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 89.1% during the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 13,105,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,444,000 after buying an additional 6,175,047 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,532,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $908,102,000 after acquiring an additional 99,168 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 23.7% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,637,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 27.8% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,465,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $45.34 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $35.03 and a 1 year high of $50.17. The firm has a market cap of $88.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.03, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.34.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.66% and a return on equity of 24.99%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $52.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.07.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation develops, markets and sells energy drinks and other beverages. Its portfolio includes Monster Energy, Reign, NOS and Full Throttle, along with products in categories such as sports drinks, juices and alcoholic beverages. The company traces its roots to Hansen’s, a beverage business established in the 1930s. It introduced the Monster Energy brand in 2002 and adopted the Monster Beverage name in 2012. Based in Corona, California, Monster sells its products in the United States and internationally.