Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Given New $97.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo raised its price target on Monster Beverage from $87 to $97 and kept an overweight rating, implying about 10.7% upside from the prior close.
• Monster Beverage reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.58 beating estimates and revenue of $2.32 billion, up 22.6% year over year.
• The company also announced a $500 million share repurchase plan, while recent filings showed notable insider selling by executives including Emelie Tirre and CFO Thomas J. Kelly.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $97.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target points to a potential upside of 10.74% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MNST. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $88.89.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

MNST stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Monday, hitting $87.60. 410,728 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,781,375. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.55 and a 200-day moving average of $76.64. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $88.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.67 billion, a PE ratio of 42.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.50.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at $7,028,347.48. This trade represents a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value 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 trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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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