Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $53.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its target price raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $51.00 to $53.00 in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

MNST has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.26.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of MNST stock opened at $54.65 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.15. Monster Beverage has a 12-month low of $43.32 and a 12-month high of $61.22. The company has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.65, for a total value of $526,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,944,748.60. This represents a 11.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MNST. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 528 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Monster Beverage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 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.