Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 2,033,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,882,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position 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 valued at $1,760,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,379 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.7% in 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 109.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,559,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,176,913,000 after buying an additional 11,779,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,728,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,490,000 after buying an additional 473,418 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,002,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,371,000 after buying an additional 143,871 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $5,057,080.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. This trade represents a 54.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total transaction of $526,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,944,748.60. The trade was a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $55.07 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. The stock has a market cap of $53.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.22.

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

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.