Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $70.00 at Morgan Stanley

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MNST. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Shares of MNST opened at $63.69 on Thursday. Monster Beverage has a 1-year low of $43.32 and a 1-year high of $64.45. The stock has a market cap of $62.11 billion, a PE ratio of 40.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.13 and a quick ratio of 2.51.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 8,796 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.46, for a total value of $549,398.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,501 shares in the company, valued at $5,590,232.46. The trade was a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 27,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $1,711,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,391,908.20. This represents a 28.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,000 after buying an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter worth approximately $301,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 15,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 1,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 127.7% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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.