Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,886 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 872 shares during the quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $2,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth about $497,157,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at approximately $157,063,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 54.7% during the 1st quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 5,366,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,728,000 after buying an additional 1,897,466 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 34.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,278,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,921,000 after buying an additional 1,872,075 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 69.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,032,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,894,000 after buying an additional 1,246,114 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MNST. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,262,402.43. The trade was a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $69.73 on Monday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $45.70 and a fifty-two week high of $72.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.09 billion, a PE ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.50.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.54%.The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage Company 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.