Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Releases Earnings Results

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) posted its quarterly 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. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 23.31% and a net margin of 21.66%.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

MNST stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $51.92. The company had a trading volume of 7,480,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,427,759. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.08. The company has a market cap of $50.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.28, 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. Monster Beverage has a twelve month low of $43.32 and a twelve month high of $61.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MNST shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monster Beverage news, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $526,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,944,748.60. This trade represents a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.