Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 130,687 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,073,382 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 130,687 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $139,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MNST. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the second 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. This trade represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 7.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $54.00 and a fifty-two week high of $87.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.10. The company has a market capitalization of $73.98 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MNST. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Evercore increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.14.

Monster Beverage Company 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.