Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Short Interest Down 17.7% in March

by · The Markets Daily

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,200,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the March 15th total of 20,900,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 47,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction of $2,585,940.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,054.86. This represents a 68.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,914 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,590,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,543,000 after acquiring an additional 734,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $442,642,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,357,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,732,000 after purchasing an additional 825,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,406,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,146,000 after purchasing an additional 493,914 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST traded down $0.40 on Monday, hitting $58.01. The company had a trading volume of 4,594,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,076,487. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $60.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.64.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. Equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MNST shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.33.

View Our Latest Report on MNST

About Monster Beverage

(Get Free Report)

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.

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