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

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 286.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 67,885 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,339 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $3,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,881,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,033,000 after purchasing an additional 639,549 shares during the period. Crestline Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 122,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,427,000 after purchasing an additional 5,913 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 79,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 28,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 7,167 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $192,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 48,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.89, for a total transaction of $2,634,720.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 296,846 shares in the company, valued at $16,293,876.94. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $552,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,528.71. This represents a 12.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,316 shares of company stock worth $11,484,440 over the last 90 days. 8.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MNST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, CICC Research upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.50.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $62.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.26. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $62.92. The company has a market capitalization of $61.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.