Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $63.06 on Thursday. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $64.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $1,711,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,391,908.20. This represents a 28.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total transaction of $549,398.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,590,232.46. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 154,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,101,000 after buying an additional 7,780 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,262,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,340,000 after acquiring an additional 77,278 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 113,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,985,000 after acquiring an additional 6,210 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Finally, Blue Chip Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 228,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,024,000 after purchasing an additional 6,917 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.