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

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $94.88 and last traded at $92.99, with a volume of 339181 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $92.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.75, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $85.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.32.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at $1,987,346.70. This trade represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.