Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $93.35.

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore boosted their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Monster Beverage by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Monster Beverage by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,173,000 after acquiring an additional 12,050 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,303,000 after purchasing an additional 116,510 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,738,000 after purchasing an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of MNST opened at $97.50 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $95.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.10, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $58.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $91.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.88.

Monster Beverage shares are scheduled to split on Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Monday, August 10th.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.