Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock Position Cut by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lessened its stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 494,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,230 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $26,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on MNST shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BNP Paribas reduced their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Guy Carling sold 47,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 68.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total value of $654,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,178,107. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440 over the last ninety days. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $57.31 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.06. The company has a market cap of $55.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.74, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $60.13.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage Company 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.