Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Nisa Investment Advisors cut its stake in Monster by 6.8%, selling 20,237 shares and finishing the quarter with 279,027 shares valued at about $21.39 million.
• Several large institutions increased positions—AQR boosted its holding by 467% to 6,849,036 shares while Vanguard and State Street hold tens of millions of shares; overall 72.36% of MNST is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Monster beat recent quarterly estimates (EPS $0.51 vs $0.49; revenue $2.10B vs $2.04B) and carries a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $83.76 (14 Buys, 8 Holds, 1 Sell).

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 279,027 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,237 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $21,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 467.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,849,036 shares of the company's stock worth $422,996,000 after purchasing an additional 5,641,160 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock worth $4,542,320,000 after buying an additional 2,122,685 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company's stock worth $338,765,000 after buying an additional 2,096,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Monster Beverage by 1,126.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,121,758 shares of the company's stock worth $132,907,000 after buying an additional 1,948,827 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MNST shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $94.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.76.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of MNST stock opened at $72.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.44. The business's 50 day moving average is $79.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.41. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $54.73 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 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 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.

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