Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 19,624 Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company's stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company's stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,422,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,178,107. This represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $1,711,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,273 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,391,908.20. This represents a 28.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 244,112 shares of company stock valued at $13,745,638 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.30% of the company's stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of MNST stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $63.83. 5,070,141 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,792,337. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $64.45. The company has a market cap of $62.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.92, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The company's 50 day moving average price is $60.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. CICC Research raised shares of Monster Beverage from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $67.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.81.

Monster Beverage Company 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.