Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.9048.

MNST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. This trade represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.5%

MNST stock opened at $81.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $79.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $48.39 and a 12 month high of $83.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.65.

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.