Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 31,276 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 392,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,276 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $24,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,360,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,094,207,000 after purchasing an additional 574,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,680,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,165,292,000 after buying an additional 742,518 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,154,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,712,000 after buying an additional 563,353 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its position in Monster Beverage by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,944,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,282,000 after buying an additional 418,918 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth $497,157,000. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.62.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $72.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $73.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.27 and its 200 day moving average is $64.32.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total transaction of $2,741,782.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,568,760.69. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

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.