Barclays Raises Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target to $74.00

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $70.00 to $74.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KO. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Coca-Cola in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an outperform rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Coca-Cola from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $71.33.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

NYSE:KO opened at $70.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.56 and its 200 day moving average is $65.52. Coca-Cola has a fifty-two week low of $52.84 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,507,516.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total value of $7,179,360.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $30,987,070.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,507,516.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 376,096 shares of company stock worth $25,982,352. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,373,000 after buying an additional 1,084,475 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,479,000 after buying an additional 177,241 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,433,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,344,000 after buying an additional 1,417,930 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.