Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Has $178,000 Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,412 shares of the company’s stock after selling 848 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 23,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 128.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 11,528 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,063,000. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 121,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,080,000 after buying an additional 22,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 50.1% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 100,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,013,000 after buying an additional 33,478 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MNST shares. Truist Financial reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.00.

Monster Beverage Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of MNST opened at $54.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1-year low of $43.32 and a 1-year high of $61.22.

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