Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Up 0.9% – What’s Next?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s share price shot up 0.9% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $63.49 and last traded at $63.46. 3,405,585 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 13,709,700 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KO. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.14.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $269.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $65.85 and its 200 day moving average is $66.62.

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

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.10%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KO. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 2,577.5% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 306,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,480,000 after acquiring an additional 8,897 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 12,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 84.2% in the 2nd quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 18,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 8,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is 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.