Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $97.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $88.00 to $97.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.95.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of MNST opened at $97.39 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage has a twelve month low of $58.09 and a twelve month high of $99.15. The stock has a market cap of $95.25 billion, a PE ratio of 47.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $90.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.16.

Monster Beverage’s stock is set to split before the market opens on Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Monster Beverage’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 299,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,844,000 after buying an additional 21,169 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,173,000 after acquiring an additional 12,050 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,303,000 after acquiring an additional 116,510 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,738,000 after acquiring an additional 95,606 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 7,360.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,191,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,695,000 after acquiring an additional 6,108,420 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.