Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

MNST has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BNP Paribas cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.11.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $57.08 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $60.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total value of $654,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares in the company, valued at $16,178,107. This trade represents a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 91,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.38, for a total transaction of $5,057,080.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 76,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,220,011.38. The trade was a 54.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,316 shares of company stock valued at $11,484,440 in the last three months. Company insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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.