New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 809,971 shares of the company’s stock after selling 67,800 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.08% of Monster Beverage worth $54,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.9% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,929,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,188,004,000 after buying an additional 900,479 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.5% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 26,450,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,656,847,000 after buying an additional 385,692 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,680,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,165,292,000 after buying an additional 742,518 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,983,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,829,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total value of $2,741,782.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 21,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,568,760.69. The trade was a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 274,981 shares of company stock valued at $20,138,516 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 1.1%

MNST opened at $80.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $78.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.13. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $83.24.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 27.76%. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on Monster Beverage and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.86.

About Monster Beverage

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.