Smith Group Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 4,650 Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 16,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock opened at $69.89 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $70.72. The stock has a market cap of $68.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.63.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the director directly owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MNST. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.05.

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.