Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Buys Shares of 1,750,067 Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage, purchasing 1,750,067 shares valued at about $134.4 million in the fourth quarter.
• Monster Beverage reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.58 versus the $0.53 estimate and revenue of $2.32 billion, up 22.6% year over year.
• The company also announced a $500 million share buyback, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $88.89.

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,750,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,431,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. owned about 0.18% of Monster Beverage at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after buying an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after buying an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after buying an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $785,885,000 after buying an additional 692,192 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company's stock valued at $547,444,000 after buying an additional 891,804 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.89.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of MNST stock opened at $88.08 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $89.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.14 billion, a PE ratio of 42.55, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.98.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Monster Beverage's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MNST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.