Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) were up 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $63.04 and last traded at $62.89. Approximately 3,466,620 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 13,908,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Cfra restated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.50.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $269.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Coca-Cola’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 6.6% during the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $735,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 6.2% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 856,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,517,000 after purchasing an additional 50,022 shares during the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 45.6% during the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 11,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 3,516 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its position in Coca-Cola by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 13,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 7,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.