Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 120.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,699 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,410 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $1,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter worth $544,584,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 4,877.8% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,283,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,262,000 after buying an additional 7,137,552 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 467.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,849,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,996,000 after buying an additional 5,641,160 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,542,320,000 after buying an additional 2,122,685 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1,126.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,121,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,907,000 after buying an additional 1,948,827 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MNST shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, January 26th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.14.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $54.00 and a 52-week high of $87.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $80.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.10.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The company 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 company earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.