Employees Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

by · The Cerbat Gem

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST – Free Report) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 865,049 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,526 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $66,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 worth $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 8.0% during the 3rd 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. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,444,000 after purchasing an additional 891,804 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,867,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,551,000 after purchasing an additional 95,919 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of MNST opened at $87.42 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.09 and a twelve month high of $88.77. The stock has a market cap of $85.50 billion, a PE ratio of 42.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.62.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.89.

View Our Latest Research Report on MNST

Monster Beverage Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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