Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Given New $105.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its target price raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $90.00 to $105.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price points to a potential upside of 5.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MNST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, June 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST traded up $2.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $99.61. 200,121 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,754,947. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.62. The firm has a market cap of $97.42 billion, a PE ratio of 48.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $99.53.

Monster Beverage shares are going to split on the morning of Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, August 10th.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. The trade was a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after acquiring an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,915,120,000 after acquiring an additional 302,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,532,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $908,102,000 after purchasing an additional 99,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $785,885,000 after purchasing an additional 692,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.