Logan Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Logan Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,786 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,893 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $10,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,303,000 after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,738,000 after purchasing an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 19.2% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 357,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,031,000 after buying an additional 57,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. The trade was a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 in the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $92.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.16. The company has a market cap of $90.01 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $92.46.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group restated 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. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.05.

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.