Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 46.3%, acquiring an additional 841,194 shares in the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to over $155 million.
• Analysts have varying ratings for Monster Beverage, with reports from TD Cowen raising the price target to $60 and Citigroup boosting it to $74.
• In the latest quarterly earnings, Monster Beverage reported an EPS of $0.52, exceeding analyst expectations and achieving revenues of $2.11 billion, a year-over-year growth of 11.1%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 46.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,657,544 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 841,194 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.27% of Monster Beverage worth $155,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the first quarter valued at $497,157,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 5,095.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,063,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,267,000 after acquiring an additional 3,004,391 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at $110,942,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 54.7% in the first quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 5,366,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $303,728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 5,880.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,254,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $62.02. 4,328,982 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,135,654. The stock's fifty day moving average is $61.62 and its 200 day moving average is $59.39. The firm has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.55. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $66.75.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MNST shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Monster Beverage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total transaction of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 51,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.