Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Acquires New Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 315,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,475,000 after acquiring an additional 7,465 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 76.2% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 66,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,915,000 after acquiring an additional 28,932 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter valued at about $365,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,289,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,455,000 after buying an additional 11,443 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MNST. Piper Sandler raised Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $63.00 to $60.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.05.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $69.62 on Monday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12 month low of $45.70 and a 12 month high of $70.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.31 and a 200-day moving average of $62.01.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.