Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on MNST. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $86.00 price target (up from $83.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.10.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $75.09 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.56, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.46. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $78.31.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 38,438 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.33, for a total transaction of $2,741,782.54. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,568,760.69. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516 in the last 90 days. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MNST. Sage Capital Advisors llc grew its position in Monster Beverage by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 6,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 29,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 8,887 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at $1,036,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 32,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,501,000 after buying an additional 4,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.