SMART Wealth LLC Takes $517,000 Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

SMART Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Miller Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 over the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped 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 note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight 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 target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $96.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.03 billion, a PE ratio of 46.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $97.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $86.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.96.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released 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 return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy 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.