Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $1.97 Million Stock Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 10.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,204 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $1,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MNST. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 360.0% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 187.6% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 716 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MNST. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Monster Beverage from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $66.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.79.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $49.09 on Friday. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $47.13 and a 52 week high of $61.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.63 and a 200-day moving average of $55.45.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 22.83%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 15,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $781,742.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,534,458.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 15,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $781,742.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,534,458.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,875,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,404,574. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 307,221 shares of company stock valued at $16,070,374 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

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.