Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC Invests $934,000 in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Sustainable Insight Capital Management opened a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter, buying 12,182 shares valued at about $934,000.
• Institutional ownership in Monster Beverage remains high, with major investors like Norges Bank, Vanguard, State Street, and Massachusetts Financial Services either adding to or holding significant stakes.
• Monster Beverage reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $0.58 versus estimates of $0.53 and revenue of $2.32 billion, while its board also authorized a $500 million share repurchase program.

Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,695,000 after acquiring an additional 6,108,420 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122,685 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 in the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $92.03 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $81.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.16. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $92.46. The firm has a market cap of $90.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Monster Beverage 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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