Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Shares Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s stock price rose 0.3% on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $69.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Coca-Cola traded as high as $62.31 and last traded at $62.09. Approximately 1,957,099 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 13,937,902 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.93.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.27.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $26,968,753.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 323,107 shares of company stock worth $19,657,742 over the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth $2,808,056,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,933,527 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth $193,342,000. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 40,564,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,390,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,893,061 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $267.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.74% and a net margin of 23.41%. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 77.60%.

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.