Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Purchased by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,605,873 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of Monster Beverage worth $122,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $398,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Monster Beverage by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 94,153 shares of the company's stock worth $7,219,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $592,000. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $2,097,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,206,217 shares of the company's stock worth $92,481,000 after acquiring an additional 13,776 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.90.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $77.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.90. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $87.38. The stock has a market cap of $75.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.50.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MNST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.