Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Director Mark J. Hall Sells 12,000 Shares

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Director Mark J. Hall sold 12,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.50, for a total value of $654,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 296,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,178,107. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MNST opened at $56.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a current ratio of 3.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.85. Monster Beverage Co. has a 52-week low of $43.32 and a 52-week high of $61.21.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 23.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MNST. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.83.

Institutional Trading of Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MNST. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 109.3% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,559,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,176,913,000 after buying an additional 11,779,162 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $442,642,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 659.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,872,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,445,000 after buying an additional 4,231,063 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Monster Beverage by 250.9% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 3,468,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,801,000 after buying an additional 2,480,291 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter worth $121,575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

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.