Panagora Asset Management Inc. Sells 476,574 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Panagora Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 51.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 456,392 shares of the company’s stock after selling 476,574 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $34,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Norges Bank bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in 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 valued at $474,695,000 after acquiring an additional 6,108,420 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Monster Beverage by 8.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Monster Beverage by 71.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.35.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the sale, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total transaction of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $93.23 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.43. The company has a market cap of $91.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.04, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $93.30.

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

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.