UBS Group Raises Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target to $104.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $84.00 to $104.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 6.67% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MNST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 2.4%

Monster Beverage stock opened at $97.50 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $91.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.88. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $100.34. The stock has a market cap of $95.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last quarter. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 397.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 15,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Monster Beverage by 247.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 9,251 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Monster Beverage by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 151.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 20,538 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently 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.