Man Group plc Purchases 854,992 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Man Group plc lifted its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 771.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 965,758 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 854,992 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.10% of Monster Beverage worth $50,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MNST. Norges Bank bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of 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. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 250.9% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 3,468,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,480,291 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,575,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $106,882,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. CICC Research raised shares of Monster Beverage from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.50.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.86. 8,363,444 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,978,827. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $61.30 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $62.92. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $58.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.24.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,585,940.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,054.86. This trade represents a 68.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.