Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and thirteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.32.

MNST has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Truist Financial cut shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $46.00 in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

MNST opened at $54.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.57 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.74. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $47.13 and a 12-month high of $61.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.92.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.83% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total value of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 777,840 shares in the company, valued at $45,542,532. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,682,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,668,738,000 after acquiring an additional 550,293 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,515,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,033,323,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296,466 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 11,622,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,557,000 after purchasing an additional 330,740 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 40.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,478,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,659,000 after purchasing an additional 3,026,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter worth approximately $517,035,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.