Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Hits New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Monster Beverage hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $90.49 after recent gains, and the stock was up about 1.9% on the day.
• Analyst sentiment remains supportive: several firms recently raised price targets, and the stock now has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target of $89.05.
• The company posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also authorizing a $500 million share buyback; however, recent insider sales and the stock's elevated valuation may temper enthusiasm.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $90.49 and last traded at $90.15, with a volume of 6566664 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $88.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MNST. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.9%

The firm has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $80.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.76.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The company's revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $7,624,652.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This trade represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 over the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company's stock worth $2,915,120,000 after purchasing an additional 302,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock worth $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 0.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $785,885,000 after buying an additional 692,192 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

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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