Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $371,000 in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 34.9% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 26,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after buying an additional 6,946 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 17.1% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 11,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 1,613 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at $235,000. Advisor Partners II LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.6% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 36,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after buying an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7.3% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total value of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 777,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,542,532. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $54.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $56.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.74. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $47.13 and a 52 week high of $61.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $56.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.92.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MNST. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.32.

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.