Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Acquired by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its Monster Beverage stake by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 395,044 shares valued at about $30.3 million.
• Monster Beverage beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.58 on revenue of $2.32 billion, both above analyst estimates, while revenue rose 22.6% year over year.
• The company authorized a new $500 million share repurchase plan, which covers up to about 0.6% of outstanding shares and may signal management believes the stock is undervalued.

Swedbank AB grew its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 395,044 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 21,430 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB's holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $30,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MNST. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,695,000 after buying an additional 6,108,420 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after buying an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,765,000 after buying an additional 2,096,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 262.1% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,327,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,459,000 after buying an additional 1,684,752 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MNST. Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 in the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $86.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $77.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.34. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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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