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

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $88.00 to $97.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.82% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.95.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock traded down $0.70 on Wednesday, reaching $96.22. 1,932,793 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,809,942. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.77. The company has a market cap of $94.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53. Monster Beverage has a one year low of $58.09 and a one year high of $99.15.

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

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. This represents a 46.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. This represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter worth $691,104,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,108,420 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Monster Beverage by 133.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,499,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858,109 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,719,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,538,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789,273 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 71.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,033,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,765,000 after buying an additional 2,096,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

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.