Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its Monster Beverage stake by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 291,835 shares and bringing its total holding to 2.37 million shares worth about $181.5 million.
• Monster Beverage beat first-quarter expectations, reporting EPS of $0.58 on revenue of $2.32 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates, while revenue rose 22.6% year over year.
• The company also authorized a $500 million share repurchase program, while analysts remain broadly constructive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.35.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,365,217 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 291,835 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.24% of Monster Beverage worth $181,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company's stock worth $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company's stock worth $2,915,120,000 after purchasing an additional 302,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock worth $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company's stock worth $785,885,000 after purchasing an additional 692,192 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,676,260 shares of the company's stock worth $741,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,577 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MNST shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Evercore raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $92.95 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $93.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.56. The company has a market cap of $90.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company 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%.Monster Beverage's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

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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