Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes $67.27 Million Position in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 999,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,268,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 178.0% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 101,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,402,000 after buying an additional 64,986 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 4,209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.74.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $81.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $81.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.23.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $15,197,433.94. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.