Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Given New $97.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada from $88.00 to $97.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.82% from the stock’s current price.

MNST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.95.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.7%

Monster Beverage stock traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $96.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,932,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,809,942. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.10 billion, a PE ratio of 46.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $99.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $88.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.77.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the sale, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in 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. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 133.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858,109 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after buying an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 71.4% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,765,000 after buying an additional 2,096,575 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.