Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Stock

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price target lifted by Piper Sandler from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.17.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $61.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.95. 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 has a 52 week low of $43.32 and a 52 week high of $61.83.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released 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. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 48,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.89, for a total value of $2,634,720.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,293,876.94. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.27, for a total value of $552,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,994,528.71. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 208,316 shares of company stock worth $11,484,440. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,786,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,112,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,012,000 after buying an additional 1,383,914 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,590,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,543,000 after buying an additional 734,406 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $442,642,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,357,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,732,000 after acquiring an additional 825,489 shares in the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.