Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Trims Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 494,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,230 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Monster Beverage worth $26,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MNST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. BNP Paribas lowered their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.83.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.8 %

MNST opened at $57.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $60.13.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 76,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,220,011.38. This represents a 54.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 48,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.89, for a total transaction of $2,634,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,293,876.94. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

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.