Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 9,014,004 Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,014,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,104,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after buying an additional 330,766 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $785,885,000 after buying an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,444,000 after buying an additional 891,804 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $88.08 on Monday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $89.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.14 billion, a PE ratio of 42.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $78.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.03.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of 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 sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.