Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Has $1.47 Million Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lowered its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,992 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,210 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $1,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 109.3% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,559,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,176,913,000 after acquiring an additional 11,779,162 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 250.9% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 3,468,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,801,000 after buying an additional 2,480,291 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,742,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,760,341,000 after buying an additional 2,168,379 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth about $73,600,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 27,142,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,048,000 after buying an additional 1,229,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total transaction of $526,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,944,748.60. The trade was a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $54.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $50.27 and its 200 day moving average is $51.15. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $61.22.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Monster Beverage

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.