Rathbones Group PLC Boosts Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,176,720 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 971 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $61,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,914 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,590,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,543,000 after buying an additional 734,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,231,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Monster Beverage by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,716,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,905,000 after acquiring an additional 818,476 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. BNP Paribas decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,178,107. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 76,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $57.08 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.17 and a 200 day moving average of $52.68. Monster Beverage Co. has a one year low of $43.32 and a one year high of $60.34. The company has a market capitalization of $55.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13.

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

About Monster Beverage

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.