RFG Advisory LLC Purchases 5,416 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

RFG Advisory LLC grew its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 175.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,508 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,416 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.9% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 761.7% in the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 1st quarter valued at $5,314,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 383.7% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 6,998 shares during the period. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 4,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total transaction of $857,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 in the last 90 days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.3%

MNST stock opened at $97.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.80. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $97.87. The stock has a market cap of $95.49 billion, a PE ratio of 47.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company’s quarterly 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 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.