Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 137,960 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 211% compared to the average daily volume of 44,414 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on KO shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price 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. Argus lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.73.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.3 %

KO opened at $71.41 on Friday. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.28 and a 200 day moving average of $63.90. The firm has a market cap of $307.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total value of $553,722,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,280,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total value of $1,253,987.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,280,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,016,023,000 after purchasing an additional 8,733,326 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,808,056,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased 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 worth $2,463,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,479,000 after purchasing an additional 177,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,337,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,866,000 after buying an additional 378,447 shares during the period. 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.