Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 678,104 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,249 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Monster Beverage worth $39,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 659.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $251,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,231,063 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings 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 period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,575,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,942,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MNST shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Roth Capital increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.91.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of MNST stock traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, reaching $59.19. 4,283,953 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,984,244. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $64.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.73 billion, a PE ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.59. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $62.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.15.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.27%. Monster Beverage's revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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