Insider Selling: CocaCola (NYSE:KO) CFO Sells 72,449 Shares of Stock

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) CFO John Murphy sold 72,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total transaction of $5,833,593.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 279,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,538,916.84. The trade was a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

John Murphy also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 25th, John Murphy sold 99,437 shares of CocaCola stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.42, for a total value of $7,996,723.54.

CocaCola Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE KO traded down $0.88 on Tuesday, reaching $79.34. The stock had a trading volume of 9,695,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,212,771. The company has a market capitalization of $341.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. CocaCola Company has a 1 year low of $65.35 and a 1 year high of $82.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.90.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. CocaCola had a return on equity of 41.31% and a net margin of 27.34%.The firm had revenue of $11.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.210-3.240 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from CocaCola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CocaCola

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tulsa Wealth Advisors INC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. hemming& Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $717,000. NWF Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 54,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,793,000 after purchasing an additional 3,436 shares during the period. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter worth $359,000. Finally, Tobam boosted its position in CocaCola by 4,924.2% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 18,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after buying an additional 18,515 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KO shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial set a $85.00 price objective on CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $87.00 price target on CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on CocaCola from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $84.33.

About CocaCola

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.