Avestar Capital LLC Purchases 508 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,103 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 774 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total transaction of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 777,840 shares in the company, valued at $45,542,532. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. HSBC decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.32.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MNST stock opened at $51.92 on Friday. Monster Beverage Co. has a twelve month low of $47.13 and a twelve month high of $61.22. The company has a market cap of $54.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.95.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.83% and a return on equity of 20.74%. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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.