Woodline Partners LP Has $14.79 Million Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Woodline Partners LP reduced its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 281,316 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,626 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $14,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $897,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,914 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,590,994 shares of the company's stock valued at $451,543,000 after acquiring an additional 734,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $442,642,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,357,921 shares of the company's stock valued at $386,732,000 after acquiring an additional 825,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 296,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,178,107. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,590,232.46. This trade 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 valued at $12,033,838 over the last quarter. Insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MNST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.81.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MNST traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $63.36. The stock had a trading volume of 3,508,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,940,639. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. The firm has a market cap of $61.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $59.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.58. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $63.49.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS 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.