Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) Board of Directors Announces Share Buyback Program

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, May 15th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Monster Beverage from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.37.

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Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Monster Beverage stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $87.09. 6,147,721 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,340,637. The stock has a market cap of $85.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.07, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.55 and its 200-day moving average is $76.59. Monster Beverage has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $88.77.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Monster Beverage will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total transaction of $4,633,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 299,246 shares in the company, valued at $25,678,299.26. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. The trade was a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 159,700 shares of company stock worth $13,730,462 in the last ninety days. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

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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.

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