CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 46,168,060 shares, a drop of 14.0% from the March 15th total of 53,713,859 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 16,423,528 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on CocaCola from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $88.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

CocaCola Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE KO traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $75.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,695,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,533,973. CocaCola has a twelve month low of $65.35 and a twelve month high of $82.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.56 and a 200 day moving average of $72.82.

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

CocaCola Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from CocaCola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is currently 69.74%.

Insider Transactions at CocaCola

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 337,824 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.10, for a total value of $26,046,230.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 342,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,410,296.60. The trade was a 49.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 23,880 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $1,847,595.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,383.25. This trade represents a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 892,925 shares of company stock valued at $70,254,796. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CocaCola by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 374,771,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,200,276,000 after purchasing an additional 5,886,352 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 167,850,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,734,417,000 after buying an additional 1,992,327 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CocaCola by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 89,984,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,273,037,000 after acquiring an additional 433,547 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,865,807,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of CocaCola by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,289,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,816,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,581 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.