Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $7.29 Million in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 100,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,289,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 11,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $95.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.47. The stock has a market cap of $93.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $96.06.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. The trade was a 52.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.