Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 11,044 Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 11,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MNST. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 98.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,001,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,836,434,000 after purchasing an additional 16,863,544 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,005,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,397,411,000 after buying an additional 504,239 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 20.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,515,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,033,323,000 after buying an additional 3,296,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 103.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,361,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $773,729,000 after buying an additional 7,287,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 10.0% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 10,071,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $804,749,000 after acquiring an additional 912,942 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total transaction of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 777,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,542,532. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.11.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

MNST stock opened at $55.01 on Monday. Monster Beverage Co. has a one year low of $47.13 and a one year high of $61.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.40 and its 200 day moving average is $55.49. The firm has a market cap of $57.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.72.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 22.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. Research analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Monster Beverage

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.