Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Decreases Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 148,886 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,644 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $7,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 296,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,178,107. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 208,316 shares of company stock worth $11,484,440. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. BNP Paribas reduced their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.83.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $57.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.06. The company has a market cap of $55.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $60.13.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.