Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 536,000 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners cut its Monster Beverage stake by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 536,000 shares and leaving it with 2.46 million shares worth about $188.4 million.
• Insider selling was also notable, with CEO Guy Carling and CFO Thomas J. Kelly both selling shares; insiders sold 178,700 shares in the last quarter overall.
• Monster Beverage posted strong results and has seen upbeat analyst sentiment, with Q1 revenue up 22.6% year over year and earnings topping estimates, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus and the company approved a $500 million share repurchase plan.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,457,312 shares of the company's stock after selling 536,000 shares during the period. Monster Beverage accounts for approximately 1.1% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Monster Beverage worth $188,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MNST. Norges Bank bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company's stock worth $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business's 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 directly owned 62,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.9%

MNST stock opened at $92.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.26. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $93.08. The firm has a market cap of $90.79 billion, a PE ratio of 44.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Monster Beverage 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.

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