CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Stock Price Down 1.2% - Time to Sell?

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $70.91 and last traded at $70.78. 3,033,022 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 16,092,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cfra Research raised shares of CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a report on Monday, June 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CocaCola has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.27.

CocaCola Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.12 and a 200-day moving average of $68.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.45.

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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 45.49%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 205,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $19,197,000.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,946 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CocaCola

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CocaCola by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 361,200,808 shares of the company's stock worth $25,869,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,422 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CocaCola in the fourth quarter worth $3,402,151,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in CocaCola by 52.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,398,185,000 after purchasing an additional 16,383,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in CocaCola by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,727,131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,811,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of CocaCola by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company's stock worth $2,123,301,000 after buying an additional 6,118,819 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.