Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Purchased by Dillon & Associates Inc.

Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 29.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,557 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,455 shares during the quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $4,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 136.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MNST shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.89.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $86.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $84.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $77.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.48. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.