Aberdeen Group plc Raises Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 532,218 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,211 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.05% of Monster Beverage worth $40,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MNST. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at $27,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MNST. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.76.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $72.37 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $54.73 and a one year high of $87.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.77 billion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage 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.