Truist Financial Corp Trims Stock Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Truist Financial Corp decreased its stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 633,647 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,801 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.06% of Monster Beverage worth $31,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 93.9% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 7,477,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,519,000 after acquiring an additional 3,620,436 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 40.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,478,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,659,000 after purchasing an additional 3,026,657 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,757,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Monster Beverage by 41.1% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,528,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,465,000 after buying an additional 1,318,890 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 34.1% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,859,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,082,000 after buying an additional 1,234,718 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.85.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $50.94 on Thursday. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $61.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.07 billion, a PE ratio of 32.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.80.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.04). Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 22.23%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.66 EPS 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.