Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target Lowered to $76.00 at Morgan Stanley

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.73% from the company’s previous close.

KO has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.87.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of KO stock opened at $68.02 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Coca-Cola has a 1 year low of $55.10 and a 1 year high of $73.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 37,787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.96, for a total transaction of $2,530,217.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,954,176.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 38,653 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.01, for a total transaction of $2,667,443.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 37,787 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.96, for a total transaction of $2,530,217.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,954,176.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 356,792 shares of company stock worth $24,728,364 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Apella Capital LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.4% in the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.5% in the third quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.2% in the second quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.3% in the third quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.6% in the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Coca-Cola 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.