Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 317,907 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,625,502 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 317,907 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $354,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 55.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 151.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after buying an additional 20,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MNST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective 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. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $7,624,652.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. The trade was a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of MNST stock opened at $88.47 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $80.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.76. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $90.44. The firm has a market cap of $86.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.