Zions Bancorporation National Association UT Cuts Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Zions Bancorporation National Association UT cut its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,095 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,007 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $4,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after buying an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth $691,104,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the sale, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at $6,152,959.62. The trade was a 12.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $91.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.20 billion, a PE ratio of 44.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.02. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $91.47.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage 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.