Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Sells 18,197 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lowered its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 21.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,854 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,197 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $5,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MNST. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,303,000 after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,738,000 after purchasing an additional 95,606 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 357,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,031,000 after purchasing an additional 57,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 target price on Monster Beverage and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.05.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $88.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.74, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.60 and a 200-day moving average of $78.76. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $90.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.