Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 2,596,454 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 72.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 976,034 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,596,454 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $70,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth about $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,695,000 after buying an additional 6,108,420 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 133.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,660,000 after buying an additional 4,858,109 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third 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. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $95.83 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $85.54 and a 200-day moving average of $80.47. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $96.06. The company has a market capitalization of $93.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.29, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.