Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) CEO Guy Carling Sells 19,000 Shares

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) CEO Guy Carling sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.90, for a total value of $1,727,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,987,346.70. The trade was a 46.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:MNST traded up $0.80 on Friday, hitting $92.83. 4,619,560 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,775,222. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $81.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.16. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $93.08. The company has a market cap of $90.79 billion, a PE ratio of 44.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Monster Beverage announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MNST shares. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.35.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 355.8% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 474 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 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.