Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 108,875 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 95.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 222,757 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 108,875 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $17,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $86.79 on Monday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $88.77. The firm has a market cap of $84.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.34.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MNST shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.89.

About Monster Beverage

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.