Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) CEO Guy Carling Sells 19,000 Shares of Stock

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total transaction of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $92.83 on Friday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $93.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $82.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.26. The company has a market cap of $90.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.85, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 9,251 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 23.9% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 55.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 151.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 20,538 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MNST. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.35.

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.