Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Shares Sold by Valley National Advisers Inc.

Valley National Advisers Inc. lessened its position in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 48.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 761 shares of the company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 3,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Monster Beverage by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 774 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total value of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 777,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,542,532. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MNST. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.11.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 1.7 %

MNST stock opened at $54.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $57.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.47. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12-month low of $47.13 and a 12-month high of $61.22.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 22.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.