Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Given New $105.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $105.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.34% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MNST. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $100.00 target price on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.75.

Monster Beverage Stock Down 0.5%

MNST opened at $96.92 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage has a 12 month low of $58.09 and a 12 month high of $99.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.77. The stock has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.53.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total value of $857,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 71,763 shares in the company, valued at $6,152,959.62. This trade represents a 12.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total transaction of $614,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,700 shares of company stock worth $15,457,562. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,169 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,173,000 after buying an additional 12,050 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,303,000 after buying an additional 116,510 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,738,000 after buying an additional 95,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,000 after buying an additional 26,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

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.