Vestcor Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 30.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 173,337 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,346 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $13,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 71.4% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,575 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of MNST opened at $89.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.58 billion, a PE ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.27 and a 200 day moving average of $78.60. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $90.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage Company 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.