Emelie Tirre Sells 8,796 Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,590,232.46. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Emelie Tirre also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 4th, Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of Monster Beverage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total value of $5,057,080.08.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $63.10 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.99 and a 200 day moving average of $54.46. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $63.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. CICC Research raised Monster Beverage from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.