Calamos Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Calamos Advisors LLC cut its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 179,969 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,280 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $13,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,542,320,000 after buying an additional 2,122,685 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,538,872,000 after buying an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after buying an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 11.3% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 9,957,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,262,000 after buying an additional 1,013,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,175,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,444,000 after buying an additional 891,804 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, January 26th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.55.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.9%

MNST opened at $78.23 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $77.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.51. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $57.86 and a twelve month high of $87.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.32, a PEG ratio of 2.71 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, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

About Monster Beverage

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.