Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on MNST. Bank of America upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.67.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $84.69 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a 52 week low of $50.93 and a 52 week high of $84.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.12, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Monster Beverage by 508.1% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage in the third quarter worth $27,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1,338.7% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.