Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $75.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.41.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

NASDAQ MNST traded up $3.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,099,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,954,324. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $72.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.44.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total transaction of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. This trade represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 2nd quarter worth about $544,584,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth about $497,157,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 4,877.8% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,283,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,262,000 after purchasing an additional 7,137,552 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 467.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,849,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,996,000 after buying an additional 5,641,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage during the second quarter valued at approximately $157,063,000. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.