Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Insider Guy Carling Sells 47,000 Shares

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) insider Guy Carling sold 47,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.02, for a total value of $2,585,940.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,054.86. This represents a 68.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Monster Beverage stock opened at $55.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52-week low of $43.32 and a 52-week high of $61.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $50.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.79.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 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.