Insider Selling: Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) CFO Sells $552,700.00 in Stock

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,528.71. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $56.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. The stock has a market cap of $55.34 billion, a PE ratio of 36.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. Monster Beverage Co. has a one year low of $43.32 and a one year high of $60.55.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 109.3% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,559,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,176,913,000 after acquiring an additional 11,779,162 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 659.1% in 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 buying an additional 4,231,063 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 250.9% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 3,468,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,801,000 after buying an additional 2,480,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at $121,575,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MNST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.83.

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.