Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.60.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO opened at $61.73 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.99 and a 200 day moving average of $66.48. The stock has a market cap of $265.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 3.83 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. Coca-Cola has a 52-week low of $57.93 and a 52-week high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. This represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after buying an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the third quarter worth $269,382,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,664,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 7,006.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,478,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,443,612 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.