246,522 Shares in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST Bought by Defender Capital LLC.

Defender Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 246,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,901,000. Monster Beverage comprises about 6.1% of Defender Capital LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $73.21 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.10. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.73 and a 52 week high of $87.38. The stock has a market cap of $71.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.95.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.