CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.27.

Several equities research analysts have commented on KO shares. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cfra Research upgraded CocaCola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CocaCola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other CocaCola news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,491,148.92. This trade represents a 24.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $6,391,355.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985 in the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sage Financial Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in CocaCola in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,513,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in CocaCola by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 121,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,686,000 after acquiring an additional 3,920 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in CocaCola by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 848,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,851,000 after acquiring an additional 204,681 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its position in CocaCola by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,484,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,767,000 after acquiring an additional 783,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Stock Performance

CocaCola stock opened at $69.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.18. CocaCola has a 52 week low of $60.62 and a 52 week high of $74.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CocaCola will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.60%.

CocaCola 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.