IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 7,952 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 5.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 148,647 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,952 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $10,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 133.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858,109 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $97.35 on Thursday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $98.31. The stock has a market cap of $95.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.03, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.13.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.35.

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.