Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 20,910 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,492 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 20,910 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $5,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MNST. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 4.1% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 16,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Monster Beverage by 13.4% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516 in the last ninety days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $77.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $75.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.41. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $78.31.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MNST shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Argus raised shares of Monster Beverage to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Piper Sandler set a $85.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.05.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.