Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Shares Sold by Defender Capital LLC.

Defender Capital LLC. trimmed its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 9.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 317,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,025 shares during the period. Monster Beverage makes up 6.8% of Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $19,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 11.6% in the first quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.4% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 315,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,475,000 after buying an additional 7,465 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 76.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 66,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,915,000 after buying an additional 28,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,289,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,455,000 after buying an additional 11,443 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MNST. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $67.15 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.45 and a 200-day moving average of $62.07. The company has a market capitalization of $65.57 billion, a PE ratio of 41.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $70.06.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total transaction of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 51,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

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.