SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Acquires New Shares in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $54.40 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.65. The company has a market cap of $52.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. As a group, analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MNST. UBS Group boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 48,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.89, for a total value of $2,634,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,293,876.94. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total value of $526,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,944,748.60. This represents a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 149,316 shares of company stock valued at $8,218,300 in the last three months. Insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

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.