Tredje AP fonden Sells 81,535 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Tredje AP fonden trimmed its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 736,928 shares of the company’s stock after selling 81,535 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $56,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,538,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 6.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,444,000 after purchasing an additional 891,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,867,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,551,000 after purchasing an additional 95,919 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MNST. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.89.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.7%

MNST opened at $88.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.59 billion, a PE ratio of 42.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $76.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.78. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.