Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Down 0.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shares fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $78.00 to $75.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Coca-Cola traded as low as $63.35 and last traded at $63.92. 2,846,864 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 13,503,059 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.08.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on KO. Cfra restated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

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

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $273.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.75 and its 200 day moving average is $66.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The company had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast 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 paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.