The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $74.24.

KO has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.47, for a total value of $1,806,547.19. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 52,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,749,745.02. The trade was a 32.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 94,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,769,334. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 313,423 shares of company stock valued at $22,263,071. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,617,400,000 after buying an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth $3,402,151,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,727,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811,756 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 1.6 %

KO opened at $68.58 on Tuesday. Coca-Cola has a twelve month low of $57.93 and a twelve month high of $73.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.00 and a 200-day moving average of $66.48. The stock has a market cap of $295.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

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

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 82.59%.

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.