Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: 23 analysts rate MNST a consensus "Moderate Buy" (14 buys, 8 holds, 1 sell) with an average 12‑month target of $84.14 and multiple firms raising targets—Morgan Stanley now at $96.
• Strong quarterly results: Monster beat estimates with $0.51 EPS vs. $0.49 expected and revenue of $2.10B (up 17.6% YoY), while reporting a 27.38% return on equity and a 22.97% net margin.
• Insider and institutional activity: Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares (~$15.2M) and another insider sold 30,000 shares; insiders own 7.80% of the company while institutional investors hold 72.36%.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.1429.

MNST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $96.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MNST opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $73.98 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $54.00 and a 12-month high of $87.38. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $80.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.10.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.38% and a net margin of 22.97%.The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. The company's revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. This represents a 31.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company's stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 247.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 710.6% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 52,407 shares of the company's stock worth $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,344 shares of the company's stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 40,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,393,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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