Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Cuts Stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,816,350 shares of the company's stock after selling 329,151 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.19% of Monster Beverage worth $95,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company's stock worth $897,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,914 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,590,994 shares of the company's stock valued at $451,543,000 after purchasing an additional 734,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at about $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $251,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,231,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,716,603 shares of the company's stock worth $247,905,000 after purchasing an additional 818,476 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MNST shares. Bank of America raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.39.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $58.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market cap of $57.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.48. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $60.34.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $552,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 47,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total value of $2,585,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,210,054.86. The trade was a 68.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Profile

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.

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