Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 11,398 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 15.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,152 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,398 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $4,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after buying an additional 497,108 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,915,120,000 after acquiring an additional 302,557 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,509,369,000 after acquiring an additional 330,766 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after acquiring an additional 692,192 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,676,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $741,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,577 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MNST. Bank of America lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped 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. Finally, Argus increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $96.38 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $97.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.58. The company has a market capitalization of $94.26 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.