Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Purchased by GF Fund Management CO. LTD.

Key Points

• GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 7.6%, buying 14,780 shares to hold 209,012 shares worth $16,025,000 at the end of the quarter.
• Monster beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $0.51 (vs. $0.49 expected) and revenue of $2.10 billion (vs. $2.04B expected), with revenue up 17.6% year-over-year and a net margin of 22.97%.
• Analysts have grown more bullish—several firms raised price targets (e.g., Piper Sandler to $94, Argus to $100) and MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $83.38 target—while the stock trades in the mid-$70s with a roughly $75 billion market cap.

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 209,012 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,780 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $16,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $260,000. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 29,643 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 238,238 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,266,000 after purchasing an additional 33,085 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 650,879 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,903,000 after purchasing an additional 84,703 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $76.72 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.45 and a 200-day moving average of $75.13. The firm has a market cap of $75.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.51. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $57.01 and a twelve month high of $87.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business posted $0.39 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Argus upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Monster Beverage from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $77.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.38.

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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