Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $6.78 Million Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $6,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,786,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,791,313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,175 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,154,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,712,000 after purchasing an additional 563,353 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.9% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,944,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,282,000 after purchasing an additional 418,918 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the first quarter worth $497,157,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,431,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,901,000 after buying an additional 73,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total transaction of $637,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $68.15 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.74 and a 200-day moving average of $61.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $68.28.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MNST has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.19.

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.