Banco Santander S.A. Sells 47,986 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Banco Santander S.A. lessened its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 20.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,986 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $11,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 16,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,262,402.43. This trade represents a 16.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MNST shares. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $63.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.43.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of MNST opened at $69.68 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $45.70 and a one year high of $70.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.04 billion, a PE ratio of 43.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal 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.