CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) Receives $76.27 Average PT from Analysts

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.27.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KO. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cfra Research raised CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $6,391,355.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $19,197,000.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,884,668.76. This trade represents a 49.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985. Insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CocaCola

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CocaCola by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the company's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of CocaCola by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 19,102 shares of the company's stock worth $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 2,072 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter worth about $428,000. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of CocaCola by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,988 shares of the company's stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CocaCola Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE KO traded up $0.59 on Thursday, reaching $70.06. 2,833,532 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,992,795. CocaCola has a 12 month low of $60.62 and a 12 month high of $74.38. The company has a market cap of $301.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.10.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that CocaCola will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. CocaCola's payout ratio is 81.60%.

About CocaCola

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.