Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 239,550 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 72.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 570,491 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 239,550 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $41,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after buying an additional 497,108 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,915,120,000 after acquiring an additional 302,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after acquiring an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after purchasing an additional 692,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,676,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $741,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 in the last three months. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MNST. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, June 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MNST opened at $97.60 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.65 and its 200 day moving average is $81.30. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $98.93. The company has a market capitalization of $95.45 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.