Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Swiss National Bank decreased its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,108,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $141,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 222.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 50,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,385,000 after purchasing an additional 34,697 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 76.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 108,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,823,000 after buying an additional 47,165 shares during the last quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 449.4% during the 2nd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 21,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after buying an additional 17,974 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Monster Beverage by 87.8% during the third quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,163,000 after buying an additional 15,029 shares during the period. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,170,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $96.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MNST stock opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.10. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $54.00 and a twelve month high of $87.38. The company has a market capitalization of $73.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.