Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Coverage Initiated at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock.

MNST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set a buy rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Monster Beverage from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $60.10.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 0.2 %

MNST opened at $50.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $52.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.37 and a 200-day moving average of $55.36. Monster Beverage has a 52 week low of $47.13 and a 52 week high of $61.22.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.83% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Monster Beverage

In other news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,875,558 shares in the company, valued at $99,404,574. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Hilton H. Schlosberg sold 42,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $2,233,632.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,875,558 shares in the company, valued at $99,404,574. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Vidergauz sold 15,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $781,742.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,167 shares in the company, valued at $3,534,458.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 307,221 shares of company stock worth $16,070,374. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MNST. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 12.2% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 676,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,770,000 after buying an additional 73,669 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 146,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 225.6% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,935 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 106.6% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 15,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,000 after acquiring an additional 8,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Monster Beverage by 8.4% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 64,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,431,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 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, 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.