Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Receives $55.83 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.83.

MNST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at $4,220,011.38. The trade was a 54.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock worth $11,484,440 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $58.58 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.33. Monster Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $60.09. The firm has a market cap of $57.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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.