William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 487,781 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,124,303 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 487,781 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Monster Beverage worth $122,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 224,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 207,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,913,000 after acquiring an additional 34,755 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 26,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 56,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 3,170 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,584,000. 64.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. HSBC assumed coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, August 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, August 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.77.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.3 %

MNST stock opened at $54.97 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Co. has a twelve month low of $47.13 and a twelve month high of $60.47. The firm has a market cap of $57.19 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.84 and a 200 day moving average of $56.08.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.50% and a net margin of 22.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 8th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage Company 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: Finished Product, Concentrate, and Other. It offers carbonated non-carbonated energy drinks, ready-to-drink iced teas and juice drinks, lemonades, juice cocktails, single-serve juices and fruit beverages, ready-to-drink dairy and coffee drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and single-serve still waters, and sodas that are considered natural, sparkling juices, and flavored sparkling beverages.