Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST)

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas lowered their price target on Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.63.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 6.4 %

Shares of MNST opened at $55.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market cap of $53.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.74. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $43.32 and a 1 year high of $61.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.08.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total transaction of $526,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,924 shares in the company, valued at $3,944,748.60. This trade represents a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 109.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,559,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,176,913,000 after acquiring an additional 11,779,162 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,445,000 after buying an additional 4,231,063 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 250.9% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 3,468,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,801,000 after buying an additional 2,480,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.