Legal & General Group Plc Has $407.52 Million Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,315,265 shares of the company’s stock after selling 399,811 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $407,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 395,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,430 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,761,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,375,000 after purchasing an additional 761,531 shares during the period. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth $349,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 222,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,079,000 after purchasing an additional 108,875 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $86.79 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $88.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $77.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.48.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This trade represents a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MNST shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.89.

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.