Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Hsbc Global Res

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) was upgraded by analysts at Hsbc Global Res to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Cfra reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Coca-Cola in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Five equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.1 %

KO opened at $71.86 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.85. The company has a market cap of $309.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.60. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 18,482 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total transaction of $1,274,333.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $15,398,603.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 18,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total transaction of $1,274,333.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,398,603.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 buying an additional 8,733,326 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 177,241 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,337,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,866,000 after acquiring an additional 378,447 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 30.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,698,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964,850 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.