Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $88.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Monster Beverage traded as high as $84.88 and last traded at $84.69, with a volume of 6208301 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $83.76.

MNST has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at $312,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth about $234,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at about $496,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 16,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after buying an additional 4,235 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.2%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $79.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.16. The company has a market capitalization of $83.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.45.

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.