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

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s stock price rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $73.00 to $78.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Coca-Cola traded as high as $72.24 and last traded at $71.74. Approximately 2,051,649 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 13,094,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.41.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KO. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Cfra restated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total transaction of $7,179,360.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,987,070.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total value of $7,179,360.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,987,070.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 18,484 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $1,321,606.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,968,095. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 974,715 shares of company stock valued at $579,704,927. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 worth $3,016,023,000 after buying an additional 8,733,326 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 11,127.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,972,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,043,000 after buying an additional 4,928,441 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $193,342,000. Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,051,000 after buying an additional 2,973,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 30.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,698,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,924,000 after buying an additional 2,964,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.04. The company has a market cap of $310.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business 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 firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Coca-Cola’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.60%.

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.