OP Asset Management Ltd Buys Shares of 73,333 Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 73,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,314,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 383.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 6,998 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 10.7% in the first quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 4,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the first quarter worth about $884,000. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 27,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,956,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MNST shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $96.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $94.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.56, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $85.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.58. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $97.87.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage Company 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.