Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stake in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 344,929 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,996 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $23,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $78.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $77.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.72, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.00 and a 12-month high of $87.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.75.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at $4,687,368.09. This represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $15,197,433.94. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.