Stock Buyback Plan Declared by Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Board

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, May 15th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.5%

MNST traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $87.09. 6,147,721 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,340,637. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.59. The company has a market cap of $85.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.50. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MNST shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price target on Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $4,633,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 in the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.