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

Key Points

• Analysts rate Monster Beverage as a "Moderate Buy" — 22 analysts cover MNST (14 buy, 8 hold) and the average 1-year price objective is $84.55.
• In the latest quarter Monster beat EPS and revenue, reporting $0.51 EPS vs. $0.49 expected and $2.10 billion revenue (up 17.6% year-over-year), with a net margin of ~23% and ROE of 27.38%.
• Shares opened at $77.19 with a 12‑month range of $58.01–$87.38; the company has a market cap of $75.48 billion, a P/E of 39.79, and institutional investors own 72.36% of the stock.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.55.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MNST shares. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Monster Beverage from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $77.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 6,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,071 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $77.19 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $76.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.67. Monster Beverage has a twelve month low of $58.01 and a twelve month high of $87.38. The firm has a market cap of $75.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.