Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 43,029 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766,129 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,029 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.07% of Monster Beverage worth $38,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 2,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in Monster Beverage by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in Monster Beverage by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 8,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on MNST shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.85.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.4 %

Monster Beverage stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $46.65. The company had a trading volume of 4,507,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,345,030. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $61.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.76.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 22.83%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,875,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,404,574. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,875,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,404,574. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 15,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $781,742.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,534,458.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 307,221 shares of company stock worth $16,070,374. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage 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.