Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Up 3.3% – Should You Buy?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s stock price rose 3.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $73.86 and last traded at $73.70. Approximately 8,687,289 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 14,926,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on KO. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.24.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 4.5 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $68.72 and a 200 day moving average of $66.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 52,466 shares in the company, valued at $3,749,745.02. The trade was a 32.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 55,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total value of $3,941,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at $17,533,008.09. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 in the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coca-Cola

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rice Partnership LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 6,793 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 87.7% during the fourth 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 increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. Clark & Stuart Inc purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at $1,582,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 222.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 192,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,814,000 after purchasing an additional 132,701 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.