Insider Selling: Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST) Director Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Monster Beverage Co. (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Rating) Director Mark Vidergauz sold 4,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.75, for a total value of $239,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 89,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,333,882.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Mark Vidergauz also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 11th, Mark Vidergauz sold 4,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.13, for a total value of $236,520.00.

Monster Beverage Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MNST opened at $57.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.99, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.86. Monster Beverage Co. has a 1 year low of $41.95 and a 1 year high of $60.47.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 19.95%. Monster Beverage’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Analysts predict that Monster Beverage Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Monster Beverage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MNST. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in Monster Beverage by 95.8% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AXS Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 75.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $57.50 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $62.50 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Cfra cut Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Monster Beverage from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.97.

About Monster Beverage

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Monster Beverage Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates. It operates through the following segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, and Other. The Monster Energy Drinks segment sells ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks to bottlers and full-service beverage distributors.