Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $105.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its target price hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $90.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MNST. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, June 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

NASDAQ MNST opened at $97.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $95.36 billion, a PE ratio of 47.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.97 and a 200-day moving average of $82.88. Monster Beverage has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $100.34.

Monster Beverage shares are scheduled to split on the morning of Tuesday, August 11th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, July 8th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, August 10th.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 23.11% and a return on equity of 26.86%. Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In related news, CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock valued at $15,457,562 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 355.8% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.