Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Shares Purchased by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 286.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,885 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 50,339 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $3,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. This represents a 54.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 217,112 shares of company stock valued at $12,033,838. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MNST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $62.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,812,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,953,753. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.31 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. Monster Beverage Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $63.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $58.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.46. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

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.