Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lessened its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,985,294 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,187,882 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $335,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 9,251 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 100.9% in the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 10,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $663,000 after acquiring an additional 5,313 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 18.9% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,997 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 16,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Argus raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 1st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.14.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $75.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.90. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.00 and a 1-year high of $87.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage 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.