The Coca-Cola Company (KO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 on December 16th

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.485 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Coca-Cola has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 63 consecutive years. Coca-Cola has a dividend payout ratio of 65.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Coca-Cola to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.5%.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $64.58 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.59. Coca-Cola has a 12-month low of $57.47 and a 12-month high of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market cap of $278.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.36.

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.