Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 550,293 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 63,682,310 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 550,293 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.12% of Monster Beverage worth $3,668,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MNST. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 360.0% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 272.5% in the 4th quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 1,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $49.13 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.13 and a fifty-two week high of $61.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.90, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.63.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 22.83%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,875,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,404,574. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,875,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,404,574. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 15,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total transaction of $781,742.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,167 shares in the company, valued at $3,534,458.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 307,221 shares of company stock valued at $16,070,374 in the last ninety days. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MNST. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Truist Financial cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $65.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.79.

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.