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

Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $89.35.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MNST shares. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Argus raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company's stock worth $48,844,000 after acquiring an additional 21,169 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,303,000 after acquiring an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,738,000 after acquiring an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock worth $4,542,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,685 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 357,025 shares of the company's stock worth $24,031,000 after purchasing an additional 57,389 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $91.66 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $83.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.67. The stock has a market cap of $89.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $93.92.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Monster Beverage's revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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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