Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Increases Stock Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 387,901 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,903 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $20,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $552,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. The trade was a 54.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock worth $11,484,440 over the last quarter. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MNST shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.33.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.8 %

MNST stock opened at $58.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. The company has a market cap of $56.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average is $55.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.17. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $60.34.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.