Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,387,837 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,906 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $274,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,360,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,094,207,000 after acquiring an additional 574,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,680,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,165,292,000 after purchasing an additional 742,518 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,154,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,712,000 after purchasing an additional 563,353 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,944,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,282,000 after purchasing an additional 418,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $497,157,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total transaction of $2,741,782.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 21,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,568,760.69. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MNST. UBS Group raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.62.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $72.04 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12 month low of $45.70 and a 12 month high of $73.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $68.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.