Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $84.00 to $104.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Monster Beverage traded as high as $99.53 and last traded at $99.5910, with a volume of 200121 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $97.57.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, June 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 133.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,660,000 after acquiring an additional 4,858,109 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,789,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Monster Beverage by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 5,503,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.88. The stock has a market cap of $95.36 billion, a PE ratio of 47.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage’s stock is going to split on the morning of Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Monday, August 10th.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.