Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 14,526 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Employees Retirement System of Texas trimmed its Monster Beverage stake by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 14,526 shares and ending with 865,049 shares valued at about $66.3 million.
• Monster Beverage reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $0.58 per share versus $0.53 expected and revenue of $2.32 billion, up 22.6% year over year.
• The company’s board also approved a $500 million share buyback, while insiders have recently sold shares and Wall Street currently has a Moderate Buy consensus with an $88.89 price target.

Employees Retirement System of Texas trimmed its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 865,049 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,526 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.09% of Monster Beverage worth $66,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company's stock worth $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock worth $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company's stock worth $338,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 262.1% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,327,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,459,000 after buying an additional 1,684,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of MNST opened at $87.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $88.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.62.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.89.

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.

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