Nomura Holdings Inc. Has $3.48 Million Stock Holdings in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,259 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,797 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $3,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. CICC Research raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday. 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 research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.50.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $62.33 on Friday. Monster Beverage Co. has a twelve month low of $43.32 and a twelve month high of $62.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $58.34 and its 200-day moving average is $54.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $552,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,994,528.71. The trade was a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $5,057,080.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,220,011.38. The trade was a 54.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.30% 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.