Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Upgraded at Sanford C. Bernstein

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) was upgraded by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on MNST. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 price objective on Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.35.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.9%

MNST stock opened at $92.83 on Thursday. Monster Beverage has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $93.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.54.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 88,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $7,624,652.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 81,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,028,347.48. This represents a 52.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562 over the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,980,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,212,080,000 after purchasing an additional 497,108 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,021,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,915,120,000 after purchasing an additional 302,557 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,625,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,509,369,000 after purchasing an additional 330,766 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,532,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $908,102,000 after acquiring an additional 99,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,675,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $785,885,000 after acquiring an additional 692,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.