Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST)

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 39,131 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,298% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,799 put options.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 659,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.55, for a total value of $38,584,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 777,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,542,532. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clarity Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Clarity Capital Partners LLC now owns 22,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in Monster Beverage by 5.9% in the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Monster Beverage by 1,060.1% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 64,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 59,156 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in Monster Beverage by 156.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 114,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 69,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 131,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,767,000 after purchasing an additional 12,785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MNST. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Monster Beverage from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.32.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of MNST stock opened at $55.00 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a 1-year low of $47.13 and a 1-year high of $61.22. The firm has a market cap of $57.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.73.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 20.95%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other.