Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Up 0.5% After Analyst Upgrade

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s stock price was up 0.5% on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $68.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Coca-Cola traded as high as $58.80 and last traded at $58.56. Approximately 2,132,499 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 13,710,254 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.28.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on KO. Citigroup boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.18.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total transaction of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,968,753.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 103,297.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,734,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,672,479,000 after acquiring an additional 57,678,466 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,808,056,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,101,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,031,669,000 after buying an additional 10,722,435 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 164.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,430,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $868,981,000 after buying an additional 8,979,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,523,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,211,268,000 after buying an additional 8,050,499 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $250.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.51.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.50% and a net margin of 23.42%. The business had revenue of $10.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Coca-Cola’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.23%.

About Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.