Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 23,578 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 10.9%, holding a total of 240,230 shares worth approximately $14 million following the purchase.
• Several institutional investors are actively adjusting their positions in Monster Beverage, including Nuveen LLC with a new stake of $497 million and Assenagon Asset Management increasing its stake by a massive 5,095.6%.
• Monster Beverage reported earnings per share of $0.52 for the last quarter, beating estimates, with revenues of $2.11 billion, marking an 11.1% increase year-over-year.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 240,230 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,578 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $14,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 259.2% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 686 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 37.1% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 724 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 51,191 shares in the company, valued at $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 price objective on Monster Beverage and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, CICC Research raised Monster Beverage from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.10.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $64.64. The stock had a trading volume of 4,845,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,720,911. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $45.70 and a one year high of $66.75. The company has a market capitalization of $63.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.15, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.55. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $61.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.59.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage Company 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.