Coca-Cola - KO Stock Forecast, Price & News

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks; flavored and enhanced water, and sports drinks; juice, dairy, and plant-based beverages; tea and coffee; and energy drinks. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores. The company sells its products under the Coca-Cola, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta, Fresca, Schweppes, Sprite, Thums Up, Aquarius, Ciel, dogadan, Dasani, glacéau smartwater, glacéau vitaminwater, Ice Dew, I LOHAS, Powerade, Topo Chico, AdeS, Del Valle, fairlife, innocent, Minute Maid, Minute Maid Pulpy, Simply, Ayataka, BODYARMOR, Costa, FUZE TEA, Georgia, and Gold Peak brands. It operates through a network of independent bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, as well as through bottling and distribution operators. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of KO traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $63.70. 9,437,269 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,823,963. The business's 50-day moving average price is $62.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Coca-Cola has a twelve month low of $52.28 and a twelve month high of $67.20. The company has a market capitalization of $275.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.13% and a net margin of 23.16%. The business had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 15th. Coca-Cola's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on KO shares. HSBC raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $69.00 price target on Coca-Cola in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. Credit Suisse Group set a $68.00 price objective on Coca-Cola in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Cowen increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Kathy Loveless sold 2,512 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total transaction of $160,768.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,680. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 32,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.09, for a total value of $2,050,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 351,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,542,824.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Kathy Loveless sold 2,512 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total value of $160,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company's stock.