waypoint wealth counsel Takes $314,000 Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

waypoint wealth counsel purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,786,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,175 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,154,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,712,000 after buying an additional 563,353 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its position in Monster Beverage by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,944,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,282,000 after buying an additional 418,918 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage during the 1st quarter worth $497,157,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,431,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,901,000 after acquiring an additional 73,737 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MNST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.05.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $69.62 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $70.06.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.54%.The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 51,191 shares in the company, valued at $3,262,402.43. The trade was a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Company 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.