Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 38,800 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 512,316 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,800 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $39,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 247.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 9,251 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 151.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after buying an additional 20,538 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. Evercore upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $91.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.87. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $93.92. The firm has a market cap of $89.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Monster Beverage

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.