Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden increased its Monster Beverage stake by 72.4% in the first quarter, adding 239,550 shares to bring its total to 570,491 shares worth about $41.3 million.
• 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 stock buyback, while insiders sold shares recently and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $89.35.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 72.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 570,491 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 239,550 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund owned about 0.06% of Monster Beverage worth $41,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MNST. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,071 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MNST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $97.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.09 and a twelve month high of $98.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.65 and a 200 day moving average of $81.30.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company'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 owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 over the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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