Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $518,000 Stock Position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,851 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,214,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 154,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,101,000 after purchasing an additional 7,780 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 251,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,124,000 after purchasing an additional 15,611 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 151,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,897,000 after purchasing an additional 9,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,090,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MNST shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BNP Paribas dropped their target price on Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $51.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.74. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $43.32 and a 52-week high of $61.22.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total transaction of $526,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,924 shares in the company, valued at $3,944,748.60. This trade represents a 11.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage 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.