Swedbank AB Increases Stake in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Swedbank AB lifted its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 205.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 373,614 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 251,128 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $25,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 49.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 647.3% during the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In related news, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total value of $2,741,782.54. Following the sale, the insider owned 21,993 shares in the company, valued at $1,568,760.69. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516 over the last quarter. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $77.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $75.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.88, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $72.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.35. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $78.31.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 21.65%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Monster Beverage and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Monster Beverage to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.95.

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.