Thomas Kelly Sells 7,000 Shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) CFO Thomas Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This trade represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock opened at $87.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.59. Monster Beverage Corporation has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $88.77. The stock has a market cap of $85.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.50.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.37.

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.