Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Bought by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 18.5% in Q4, buying 60,665 shares to own 389,458 shares valued at about $29.86 million.
• Monster beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.51 vs. $0.49 and revenue of $2.10 billion vs. $2.04 billion, with revenue up 17.6% year‑over‑year and strong profitability (ROE 27.38%, net margin 22.97%).
• Analysts are mostly positive—14 Buys, 8 Holds, 1 Sell—with an average target of $83.38; the stock trades near $75, has a market cap of about $73.5B and institutional ownership of roughly 72.36%.

Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 389,458 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 60,665 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $29,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth $27,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 0.7%

MNST opened at $75.17 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $77.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.99. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $57.01 and a 12-month high of $87.38. The firm has a market cap of $73.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Monster Beverage's revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $96.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.38.

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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