JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Stock Price

Key Points

• JPMorgan lowered Coca-Cola’s price target from $96 to $95 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying 8.66% upside from the prior close.
• Coca-Cola shares recently traded at $87.43, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $95.71.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.97 EPS and $13.37 billion in revenue; however, insiders sold approximately $83.1 million of stock over the past 90 days, primarily to cover tax obligations.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $96.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.66% from the company's previous close.

KO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Seaport Research Partners set a $95.00 price objective on CocaCola in a report on Friday, August 14th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CocaCola from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $86.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CocaCola from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.71.

CocaCola Price Performance

NYSE:KO traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $87.43. 758,873 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,855,041. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $87.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.13. CocaCola has a 52-week low of $65.35 and a 52-week high of $92.49. The company has a market cap of $376.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.17 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 39.38% and a net margin of 28.56%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.300 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CocaCola will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman James Quincey sold 145,947 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $13,148,365.23. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 122,833 shares in the company, valued at $11,066,024.97. The trade was a 54.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 111,365 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.93, for a total transaction of $10,126,419.45. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,761,319.45. The trade was a 72.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 926,620 shares of company stock worth $83,075,714. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisbourg Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 1,081.8% during the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 390 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Atomic Invest LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 38.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atomic Invest LLC now owns 437 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

CocaCola Company Profile

The Coca-Cola Company NYSE: KO is a global beverage company best known for its Coca-Cola soft drink, which was first introduced in 1886. The company was incorporated in 1892 and has grown into one of the world's largest beverage businesses.

Its portfolio includes sparkling soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite and Fanta, along with water, sports drinks, coffee, tea, juice and dairy-based beverages. Other brands associated with the company include Dasani, smartwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Costa Coffee, fairlife and Topo Chico.

The Coca-Cola Company primarily develops, owns and markets beverage brands, while relying on a global network of independent bottling partners and distributors to manufacture, package and deliver many of its products.

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