CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.7647.

KO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on CocaCola from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. HSBC cut CocaCola from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $104.00 target price on CocaCola and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In related news, Chairman James Quincey sold 436,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.13, for a total transaction of $34,960,398.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 122,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,842,608.29. This represents a 78.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 111,365 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.93, for a total transaction of $10,126,419.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,761,319.45. The trade was a 72.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,594,900 shares of company stock valued at $136,568,617. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KO. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in CocaCola by 7,365.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 487,509,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,619,934,000 after purchasing an additional 480,979,487 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 167,850,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,734,417,000 after buying an additional 1,992,327 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 89,984,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,273,037,000 after acquiring an additional 433,547 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,865,807,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of CocaCola by 4.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 45,958,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,735,058,000 after buying an additional 1,939,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of KO opened at $88.84 on Tuesday. CocaCola has a twelve month low of $65.35 and a twelve month high of $92.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $382.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $85.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. CocaCola had a return on equity of 39.38% and a net margin of 28.56%.The company had revenue of $13.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.270-3.300 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that CocaCola will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.66%.

CocaCola Company Profile

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.