Nuveen LLC Invests $497.16 Million in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation, purchasing approximately 8.5 million shares valued at around $497.2 million, representing 0.87% of the company's stock.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic, with several raising their price targets for Monster Beverage, resulting in an average target price of $64.90 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Monster Beverage recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52, surpassing estimates and reflecting an 11.1% revenue increase compared to the previous year.

Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,495,513 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $497,157,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.87% of Monster Beverage as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 259.2% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 686 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 37.1% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 724 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MNST. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 price target on Monster Beverage and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $68.00 price objective on Monster Beverage and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.10.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ MNST traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.20. The stock had a trading volume of 4,039,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,212,668. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $66.75. The stock has a market cap of $62.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.56 and a 200 day moving average of $58.31.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 89,501 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,590,232.46. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total value of $1,711,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 69,273 shares in the company, valued at $4,391,908.20. This trade represents a 28.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.