Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Rating Increased to Neutral at BNP Paribas Exane

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) was upgraded by investment analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $77.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 1.17% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on MNST. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (up previously from $81.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Argus raised Monster Beverage to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.74.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $77.91 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $79.01. The company has a market capitalization of $76.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.82.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total value of $2,741,782.54. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,993 shares in the company, valued at $1,568,760.69. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 274,981 shares of company stock valued at $20,138,516 over the last ninety days. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. 72.36% of the stock is currently 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.