Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Up 0% – Still a Buy?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shares traded up 0% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $69.43 and last traded at $69.02. 1,782,169 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 13,224,243 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.1 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $70.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.21. 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 has a market capitalization of $296.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $12.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Coca-Cola’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total value of $1,253,987.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total value of $1,253,987.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 38,653 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.01, for a total transaction of $2,667,443.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 376,096 shares of company stock worth $25,982,352 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 21.5% in the 1st 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 during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during 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 period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings 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 during the period. 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.