Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Trims Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lessened its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,108,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,181 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned 0.11% of Monster Beverage worth $80,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.6% during the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 11,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 over the last 90 days. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $96.38 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $97.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.26 billion, a PE ratio of 46.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.58.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, June 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

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.