Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Monster Beverage shares crossed above their 200-day moving average of $43.03, reaching $47.07 before last trading at $46.70.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 13 Buy ratings and nine Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $50.33.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with $0.60 in EPS and $2.50 billion in revenue, while also authorizing a $500 million share buyback.

Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $43.03 and traded as high as $47.07. Monster Beverage shares last traded at $46.70, with a volume of 7,430,631 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MNST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $47.50 to $52.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $48.50 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $45.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $51.50 price target on Monster Beverage and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, August 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.33.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 2.3%

The business's fifty day moving average is $47.66 and its 200 day moving average is $43.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, CEO Guy Carling sold 38,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company's stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 12,148 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company's stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 9,251 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 23.9% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 55.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company's stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 151.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company's stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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