Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 202,520 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 100.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 404,566 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202,520 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $25,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 16,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in Monster Beverage by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 37.1% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,262,402.43. This trade represents a 16.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 5.2%

MNST stock opened at $69.73 on Monday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $72.62. The company has a market cap of $68.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.59 and its 200-day moving average is $63.50.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.46% and a net margin of 20.54%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.