Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.95.

MNST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 target price on Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, 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 value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 136.7% in 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. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Miller Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock opened at $97.39 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $90.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.19. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $99.15. The company has a market capitalization of $95.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage shares are going to split on Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, August 10th.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.