Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Price Target Raised to $85.00

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective upped by Evercore from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. Evercore currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Monster Beverage in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Monster Beverage from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Monster Beverage from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.00.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $85.41 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $79.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.16. Monster Beverage has a 1-year low of $50.93 and a 1-year high of $85.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.45.

Insider Transactions at Monster Beverage

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total transaction of $2,199,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. The trade was a 31.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 508.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Monster Beverage in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.36% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.