Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $685,000 Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,025 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,422,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup boosted 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, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. BNP Paribas lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.83.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $57.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.19 and a 200-day moving average of $52.41. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $59.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 EPS 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,178,107. This trade represents a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,220,011.38. This trade represents a 54.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440 in the last 90 days. 7.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.