Groupama Asset Managment Reduces Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Groupama Asset Managment cut its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,860 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,518 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,212,080,000 after acquiring an additional 497,108 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,915,120,000 after purchasing an additional 302,557 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after purchasing an additional 692,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,676,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $741,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Argus upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last three months. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $91.34 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $58.09 and a twelve month high of $93.92. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.04 and its 200 day moving average is $79.87. The company has a market cap of $89.33 billion, a PE ratio of 44.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.