Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,235 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,055 shares during the quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC's holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $9,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,866,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,083,000 after acquiring an additional 449,842 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 309,263 shares of the company's stock worth $16,255,000 after acquiring an additional 25,508 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $3,684,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $42,165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.50.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Guy Carling sold 47,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction of $2,585,940.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,993 shares in the company, valued at $1,210,054.86. The trade was a 68.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 89,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,590,232.46. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 217,112 shares of company stock worth $12,033,838 over the last three months. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,400,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,963,354. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $63.17. The company has a market capitalization of $61.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.40.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Monster Beverage's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

About Monster Beverage

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.