Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $90.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.41% from the company’s previous close.

MNST has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, June 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.35.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 2.1%

Monster Beverage stock traded up $2.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $99.61. The stock had a trading volume of 200,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,754,947. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $91.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.62. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $99.53. The stock has a market cap of $97.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.53.

Shares of Monster Beverage are scheduled 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total transaction of $857,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted 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 in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,173,000 after acquiring an additional 12,050 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 116,510 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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.