Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Bought by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 120.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,699 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,410 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $1,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $80.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.10. The company has a market capitalization of $73.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.00 and a 12 month high of $87.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at $4,687,368.09. This represents a 31.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective (up from $53.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.14.

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.