The Coca-Cola Company to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.485 per share on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th.

Coca-Cola has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 63 consecutive years.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $62.18 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.06. Coca-Cola has a one year low of $51.55 and a one year high of $64.25. The firm has a market cap of $268.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. The business had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,594,097.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 323,107 shares of company stock valued at $19,657,742 in the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.27.

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.