Brokerages Set Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) PT at $60.81

Shares of Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.81.

MNST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST stock opened at $63.04 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $61.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.60. Monster Beverage has a 52-week low of $43.32 and a 52-week high of $64.45.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Monster Beverage’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total transaction of $552,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total transaction of $654,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 296,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,178,107. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,796 shares of company stock worth $6,053,838. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the first quarter worth $497,157,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth about $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,231,063 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 5,095.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,063,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,267,000 after acquiring an additional 3,004,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,575,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

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.