Moran Wealth Management LLC Sells 13,167 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Moran Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 166,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,167 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $12,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in 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 lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 55.9% in the second 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 boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 151.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after buying an additional 20,538 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $97.60 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $98.93. The firm has a market cap of $95.45 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.09 and its 200-day moving average is $81.41.

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.