Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $75.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MNST. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $73.00 price objective on Monster Beverage and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Monster Beverage from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.05.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.9%

Monster Beverage stock opened at $69.62 on Wednesday. Monster Beverage has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $70.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.96.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 27.46%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.73, for a total value of $637,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 51,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,262,402.43. This represents a 16.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 16,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 13.4% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.0% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.0% during the second quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

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.