Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.3250.

Several research firms recently issued reports on MNST. UBS Group upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $47.50 to $52.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, June 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $47.50 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $45.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $46.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $91.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $30.49 and a fifty-two week high of $50.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $47.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.55.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.02% and a net margin of 23.08%.Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 38,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 43,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CI Investments Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 3.5% in the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 6,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.