UBS Group Cuts CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Price Target to $84.00

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) had its price target lowered by UBS Group from $86.00 to $84.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on KO. Cfra Research upgraded shares of CocaCola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. BNP Paribas restated an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $77.21.

CocaCola Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of CocaCola stock opened at $69.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $70.64 and a 200 day moving average of $69.34. The firm has a market cap of $297.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.45. CocaCola has a 1 year low of $60.62 and a 1 year high of $74.38.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.55 billion. CocaCola had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 44.91%. CocaCola’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CocaCola will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 72.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total value of $4,335,629.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This trade represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 205,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. The trade was a 30.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CocaCola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 361,200,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,869,202,000 after buying an additional 1,114,422 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CocaCola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,402,151,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in CocaCola by 52.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,398,185,000 after purchasing an additional 16,383,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in CocaCola by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,727,131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,811,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in CocaCola by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,123,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,118,819 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola 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.