Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $90.49 and last traded at $90.15, with a volume of 6566664 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $88.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MNST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.05.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.02. The company has a market capitalization of $90.01 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 over the last three months. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,303,000 after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,738,000 after purchasing an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,000 after purchasing an additional 26,419 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.