Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 101,985 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Los Angeles Capital Management cut its Monster Beverage stake by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 101,985 shares and leaving it with 1,169,988 shares valued at about $89.7 million.
• Monster Beverage reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.58 versus $0.53 expected and revenue of $2.32 billion versus $2.16 billion expected. Revenue rose 22.6% year over year.
• The company also announced a $500 million stock buyback, while analysts remain generally positive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.05.

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,169,988 shares of the company's stock after selling 101,985 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Monster Beverage worth $89,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,303,000 after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,738,000 after purchasing an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,538,000 after purchasing an additional 26,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $89.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $80.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.60. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $90.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. Monster Beverage's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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 stock repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MNST. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

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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