170,014 Shares in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Purchased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 170,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,319,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Leonteq Securities AG raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 242.8% during the first quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 4,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 3,380 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 72.4% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 570,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,338,000 after buying an additional 239,550 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 106.2% during the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 5,129 shares during the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the first quarter valued at $326,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value 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. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $97.60 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $98.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $87.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

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.