Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Has $64.99 Million Stock Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 6.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 965,507 shares of the company’s stock after selling 63,062 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $64,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth $27,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the second quarter worth $28,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at $29,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. This trade represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total transaction of $2,741,782.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,568,760.69. This trade represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MNST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Monster Beverage and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Exane BNP Paribas upgraded Monster Beverage from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.62.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

MNST stock opened at $82.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.59. The company has a market capitalization of $80.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.46. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $82.19.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 21.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.