Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $95.00 at Argus

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective lifted by Argus from $90.00 to $95.00 in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Monster Beverage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.86.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $81.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $79.54 billion, a PE ratio of 46.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.46. Monster Beverage has a 52 week low of $45.70 and a 52 week high of $83.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.97.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 21.65%.Monster Beverage’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. This trade represents a 31.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 274,981 shares of company stock worth $20,138,516 in the last quarter. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 11,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.