Griffin Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Griffin Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $774,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after purchasing an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,444,000 after purchasing an additional 891,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 1.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,867,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,551,000 after purchasing an additional 95,919 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. The trade was a 52.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 in the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $86.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $84.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.20. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $88.77.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised 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 research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.89.

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.