Employees Retirement System of Texas Decreases Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Employees Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 19.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 879,575 shares of the company’s stock after selling 210,077 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $59,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $76.99 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.17 and a 52 week high of $87.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.25. The firm has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.14.

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.