Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $28.66 Million Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 373,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,234 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $28,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the first 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 during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 247.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 23.9% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 55.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 151.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.89.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $86.35 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $88.77. The company has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a PE ratio of 41.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $77.00 and its 200-day moving average is $76.92.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.