Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Sold by Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lowered its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 16.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,960,169 shares of the company’s stock after selling 578,989 shares during the quarter. Monster Beverage makes up approximately 3.2% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned approximately 0.30% of Monster Beverage worth $209,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $97.60 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $98.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.41. The company has a market cap of $95.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MNST. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, June 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.