Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 19,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company's stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company's stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company's stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the company's stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,994,528.71. This represents a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. This trade represents a 54.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, reaching $62.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,009,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,966,948. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $63.25. The company has a market capitalization of $61.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.26.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MNST. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.50.

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.