TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock Price

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective raised by TD Cowen from $74.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.62% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Argus raised Monster Beverage to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $86.00 target price (up from $83.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.05.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MNST traded up $1.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $77.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 545,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,028,033. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.22. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $78.31.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. This trade represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516. 8.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.