Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) was in 25 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. MNST has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with MNST positions at the end of the previous quarter.
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Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of stimuli for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a peek at the key action regarding Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST).
Hedge fund activity in Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST)
In preparation for this year, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST). Renaissance Technologies has a $100 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $77 million position; 1.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP, Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital and Shane Finemore’s Manikay Partners.
Seeing as Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, valued at an estimated $84 million in stock.. Patrick McCormack’s fund, Tiger Consumer Management, also cut its stock, about $75 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How have insiders been trading Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) is an important part of this process.
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