Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is moderately bullish: 13 of 22 analysts rate Monster Beverage a “buy” and nine recommend holding the stock, with an average 12-month price target of $50.33.
• Quarterly results exceeded expectations: Monster reported adjusted EPS of $0.60 versus the $0.58 consensus estimate and revenue of $2.50 billion, up 20.2% year over year and above analysts’ $2.43 billion forecast.
• The company authorized a $500 million share buyback covering up to 0.6% of outstanding shares, while institutional investors own 72.36% of MNST’s stock.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.3250.

MNST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $45.00 to $52.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Monster Beverage from $40.50 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $48.50 price target (down from $97.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Monster Beverage from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

MNST stock opened at $45.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.96 billion, a PE ratio of 42.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a one year low of $30.88 and a one year high of $50.17. The company's fifty day moving average price is $47.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.11.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.02% and a net margin of 23.08%.The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 38,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 43,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MNST. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 8,682.5% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 107,690,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,351,252,000 after acquiring an additional 106,464,724 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,770,004,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% in 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 shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after buying an additional 330,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $908,102,000 after buying an additional 99,168 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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