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

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) traded up 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. 2,051,649 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 13,094,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.41.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on KO. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Cfra restated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.07.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other news, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,280,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,280,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 18,484 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $1,321,606.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,968,095. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 974,715 shares of company stock valued at $579,704,927 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group now owns 21,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,377,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. American Trust raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 15,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,611,000. Finally, Brightwater Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola in the second quarter worth $367,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $309.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.95.

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, sell-side analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

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.