Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Director Sells $654,000.00 in Stock

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

Monster Beverage Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:MNST opened at $56.82 on Thursday. Monster Beverage Co. has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $60.82. The company has a current ratio of 3.13, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.96.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Monster Beverage by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Monster Beverage from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Monster Beverage from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.83.

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.