Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $95.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective increased by research analysts at TD Cowen from $90.00 to $95.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.26% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MNST. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, June 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.95.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of MNST traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $96.22. 1,932,793 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,809,942. Monster Beverage has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $99.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.86 and a 200-day moving average of $81.77. The stock has a market cap of $94.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.45, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 completion of 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,695,000 after purchasing an additional 6,108,420 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 133.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858,109 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,575 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.