The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.24.

KO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO stock opened at $70.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $57.93 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $301.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. On average, analysts anticipate that Coca-Cola will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.47, for a total transaction of $1,806,547.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 52,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,749,745.02. This represents a 32.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KO. Rice Partnership LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 102,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,397,000 after acquiring an additional 6,793 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 18,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 8,499 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter worth $738,000. Finally, Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 158,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,419,000 after acquiring an additional 13,110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.