Defender Capital LLC. Grows Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Defender Capital LLC. lifted its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 442,581 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,095 shares during the period. Monster Beverage comprises about 7.7% of Defender Capital LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $23,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 644.6% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 9,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 8,148 shares in the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 18.0% in the third quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 18,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares in the last quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 14.0% in the third quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 2,174 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Monster Beverage by 23.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,387,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,379,000 after acquiring an additional 261,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 72.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MNST. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.68.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock opened at $53.48 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $61.22. The company has a market cap of $55.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.84 and a 200 day moving average of $51.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 22.23% and a net margin of 22.84%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current 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.