Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading 0.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s share price traded up 0.4% during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $66.00 to $73.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Coca-Cola traded as high as $70.03 and last traded at $69.81. Approximately 5,172,124 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 16,329,125 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.50.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on KO. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coca-Cola

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after acquiring an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966,964 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,617,400,000 after acquiring an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,402,151,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,727,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811,756 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $296.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.