Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Bought by Allstate Corp

Key Points

• Allstate Corp more than doubled its stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter, buying an additional 28,989 shares to bring its total holding to 55,585 shares worth about $4.26 million.
• Monster Beverage announced a $500 million share repurchase plan, covering up to about 0.6% of its stock, a move that typically signals management believes the shares may be undervalued.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.58 and revenue of $2.32 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $88.89.

Allstate Corp grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 109.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,585 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,989 shares during the period. Allstate Corp's holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $4,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company's stock worth $474,695,000 after acquiring an additional 6,108,420 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $2,538,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock worth $4,542,320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company's stock worth $338,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 262.1% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,327,626 shares of the company's stock worth $178,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MNST shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.89.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.7%

MNST stock opened at $87.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $85.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.23, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.62. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage 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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