Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Stake in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Franklin Resources trimmed its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.8% in Q3, selling 80,242 shares and now owns 4,307,595 shares (~0.44% of the company) valued at about $289.9 million, while institutional investors hold 72.36% of the stock.
• Monster beat expectations with Q results (EPS $0.51 vs. $0.49; revenue $2.10B, up 17.6% YoY), prompting several analysts to raise price targets (e.g., Citigroup to $100, Morgan Stanley to $96) and leaving a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target near $84.14.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,307,595 shares of the company's stock after selling 80,242 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.44% of Monster Beverage worth $289,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company's stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company's stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 9,251 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 68.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,083 shares of the company's stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,070 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $666,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,065,795 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,761,000 after acquiring an additional 8,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.7%

MNST stock opened at $76.99 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $80.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.25. The stock has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $54.17 and a twelve month high of $87.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Monster Beverage from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $77.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $96.00 price objective (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.14.

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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