Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Shares Up 0.4%

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s share price traded up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $72.38 and last traded at $72.06. 1,624,455 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 13,078,382 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Cfra reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 1.6 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $304.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction of $1,253,987.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction of $1,253,987.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,507,516.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,280,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,016,023,000 after buying an additional 8,733,326 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,463,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084,475 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,479,000 after purchasing an additional 177,241 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,337,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,866,000 after purchasing an additional 378,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,698,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964,850 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

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.