MQS Management LLC Invests $771,000 in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 10,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000. Monster Beverage accounts for about 0.5% of MQS Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total transaction of $857,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $96.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.96. The company has a market cap of $94.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.45, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $97.87.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Monster Beverage

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.