Analysts Set The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Target Price at $68.27

Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.58.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In related news, EVP Henrique Braun sold 57,298 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.08, for a total value of $3,614,357.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,466 shares in the company, valued at $3,309,555.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Henrique Braun sold 57,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.08, for a total value of $3,614,357.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,309,555.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 199,389 shares of company stock worth $12,322,179 over the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,808,056,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 8,733,326 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,343,000 after buying an additional 4,933,527 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth about $193,342,000. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,051,000 after acquiring an additional 2,973,234 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $62.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.92. Coca-Cola has a fifty-two week low of $51.55 and a fifty-two week high of $63.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $267.09 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.74% and a net margin of 23.41%. The firm had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

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.