Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Monster Beverage shares climbed above their 200-day moving average, trading near $47.43 versus the $42.73 average. The stock is valued at about $92.9 billion with a P/E ratio of 43.92.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with 13 Buy ratings and nine Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $50.33.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.60 in EPS and $2.50 billion in revenue, with revenue up 20.2% year over year. Monster also authorized a $500 million share repurchase plan, although its CEO recently sold 38,000 shares.

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $42.73 and traded as high as $47.98. Monster Beverage shares last traded at $47.43, with a volume of 11,952,726 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MNST. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $45.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $47.50 price target (up from $36.50) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $47.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Monster Beverage from $40.50 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.33.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $92.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.92, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.53. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $47.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.73.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.08% and a return on equity of 26.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Guy Carling sold 38,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 43,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MNST. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after acquiring an additional 497,108 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the second quarter worth about $5,770,004,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,532,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $908,102,000 after purchasing an additional 99,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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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