JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Has $57.34 Million Stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd reduced its position in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,114,307 shares of the company's stock after selling 123,367 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd owned 0.11% of Monster Beverage worth $57,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.17.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $5,057,080.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. The trade was a 54.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.7 %

Monster Beverage stock opened at $61.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.96. The firm has a market cap of $59.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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