Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Sold by First National Trust Co

First National Trust Co reduced its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 6.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,621 shares of the company’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MNST. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,786,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,175 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 6.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,154,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,712,000 after buying an additional 563,353 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 4.9% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,944,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $560,282,000 after buying an additional 418,918 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter valued at $497,157,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,431,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,901,000 after acquiring an additional 73,737 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MNST. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.43.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the sale, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. The trade was a 16.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $66.56 on Thursday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $70.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.99 billion, a PE ratio of 41.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.04.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.54%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Monster Beverage

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.