Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $93.23 and last traded at $92.2070, with a volume of 262509 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MNST shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $90.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.30.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,028,347.48. This trade represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last 90 days. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,915,120,000 after buying an additional 302,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,509,369,000 after buying an additional 330,766 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% in 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 during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% in the 3rd 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. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.