Barclays PLC Sells 239,389 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Barclays PLC trimmed its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,745,905 shares of the company’s stock after selling 239,389 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $363,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 11,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of MNST opened at $92.83 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.16 and a 200 day moving average of $79.30. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $93.08. The firm has a market cap of $90.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 transaction, the insider owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 in the last 90 days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Monster Beverage

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.