Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.0476.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MNST stock opened at $70.22 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $70.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $65.12 and its 200-day moving average is $62.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.