The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Receives $71.07 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.07.

KO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.5 %

KO stock opened at $71.79 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $69.82 and a 200 day moving average of $64.75. Coca-Cola has a twelve month low of $51.55 and a twelve month high of $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $309.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors 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 yield of 2.70%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lisa Chang sold 58,122 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.51, for a total transaction of $3,981,938.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 74,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,074,330.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coca-Cola

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,084,475 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,479,000 after acquiring an additional 177,241 shares during the period. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $890,866,000 after purchasing an additional 378,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 30.5% during 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. Hedge funds and other 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.