Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Down 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $61.79 and last traded at $62.40. Approximately 3,918,691 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 13,707,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on KO. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Cfra restated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.14.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.03 and a 200 day moving average of $66.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $269.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $21,933,220.38. This represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coca-Cola

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,463,373,000 after buying an additional 1,084,475 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after buying an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,984,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,990,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

About Coca-Cola

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.