Brokerages Set Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) PT at $88.89

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $88.8947.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 over the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% during 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 last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $88.08 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a twelve month low of $58.09 and a twelve month high of $89.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.55, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $78.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.98.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes 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 board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.