Defender Capital LLC. Takes Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Defender Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 246,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,901,000. Monster Beverage makes up 6.1% of Defender Capital LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 222.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 50,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,385,000 after purchasing an additional 34,697 shares in the last quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 449.4% during the 2nd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 21,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 17,974 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 87.8% during the 3rd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after purchasing an additional 15,029 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter valued at $59,170,000. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 25,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,000 after buying an additional 14,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MNST shares. Zacks Research lowered Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Evercore lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.95.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $73.21 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $54.73 and a 52-week high of $87.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

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.