Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock Dropped to “Hold” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

MNST has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $52.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.07.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.1%

MNST opened at $45.40 on Tuesday. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $35.03 and a 12-month high of $50.17. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.37. The company has a market capitalization of $88.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 24.99% and a net margin of 22.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Monster Beverage will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MNST. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 362.8% in the third quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 16,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 13,002 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 109.8% during the third quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 525.9% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 23,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 19,439 shares during the last quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 95.6% during the third quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 336,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,997,000 after buying an additional 164,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 132.8% in the 3rd quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 13,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 7,844 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation develops, markets and sells energy drinks and other beverages. Its portfolio includes Monster Energy, Reign, NOS and Full Throttle, along with products in categories such as sports drinks, juices and alcoholic beverages. The company traces its roots to Hansen’s, a beverage business established in the 1930s. It introduced the Monster Energy brand in 2002 and adopted the Monster Beverage name in 2012. Based in Corona, California, Monster sells its products in the United States and internationally.