National Pension Service Sells 23,597 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

National Pension Service reduced its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,058,680 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,597 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.11% of Monster Beverage worth $81,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after acquiring an additional 330,766 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $785,885,000 after acquiring an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company's stock valued at $547,444,000 after acquiring an additional 891,804 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $88.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.55, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.50. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $89.85. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $78.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.98.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at $7,028,347.48. The trade was a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group reiterated 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.89.

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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