Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $82.71 and last traded at $82.7370, with a volume of 300839 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $80.74 billion, a PE ratio of 47.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.66.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 21.65%.The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total transaction of $2,741,782.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,568,760.69. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 274,981 shares of company stock valued at $20,138,516. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the second quarter valued at $544,584,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 4,877.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,283,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,262,000 after buying an additional 7,137,552 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted 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 buying an additional 6,108,420 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 467.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,849,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,996,000 after buying an additional 5,641,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,538,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.