Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%.

Monster Beverage Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of MNST opened at $54.65 on Friday. Monster Beverage has a fifty-two week low of $43.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.27 and a 200 day moving average of $51.15. The firm has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas cut their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monster Beverage

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total value of $526,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,944,748.60. The trade was a 11.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 7.80% 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.