Arkadios Wealth Advisors Raises Position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)

Key Points

• Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 70.7%, acquiring an additional 29,181 shares and raising their total holdings to 70,479 shares valued at approximately $4.12 million.
• Following recent rating changes, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $61.91, reflecting a mix of analysts issuing buy, hold, and sell recommendations.
• The company reported $1.85 billion in revenue for the last quarter, but this was a 2.3% decline compared to the same period last year, despite an earnings per share of $0.47 exceeding expectations.

Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 70.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,479 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 29,181 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $4,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 5,095.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,063,351 shares of the company's stock worth $179,267,000 after purchasing an additional 3,004,391 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,575,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,942,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 54.7% in the first quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 5,366,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $303,728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Monster Beverage by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $897,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Monster Beverage from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $63.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Roth Capital upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $1,711,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 69,273 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,391,908.20. This represents a 28.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 89,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,590,232.46. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.5%

MNST stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.02. 12,248,440 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,052,162. The firm's 50 day moving average is $61.83 and its 200 day moving average is $57.59. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.32 and a twelve month high of $64.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $57.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.55.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.27%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current 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.