CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• CocaCola Company has received an average analyst rating of "Buy", with 15 out of 16 analysts recommending the stock positively.
• The average 1-year target price among analysts for CocaCola stock is $76.93, reflecting optimism about the company's growth.
• CocaCola recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.51, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.1% with a payout ratio of 72.34%.

Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.9286.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on KO shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of CocaCola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th.

CocaCola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $66.65 on Friday. CocaCola has a 12-month low of $60.62 and a 12-month high of $74.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.27 and a 200-day moving average of $69.94.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. CocaCola had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 44.91%. The company had revenue of $12.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.970-2.970 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CocaCola will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CocaCola news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $2,584,063.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 209,513 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,477,348.30. The trade was a 15.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CocaCola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CocaCola by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 367,441,971 shares of the company's stock worth $25,996,519,000 after buying an additional 6,241,163 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CocaCola during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,846,270,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in CocaCola by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company's stock worth $3,398,185,000 after buying an additional 16,383,870 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in CocaCola by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,889,415 shares of the company's stock worth $2,212,300,000 after buying an additional 1,794,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 27,281,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,930,170,000 after purchasing an additional 285,794 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CocaCola 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.

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