John Murphy Sells 152,483 Shares of CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Stock

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) CFO John Murphy sold 152,483 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.31, for a total transaction of $13,313,290.73. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 279,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,439,553.27. This represents a 35.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

CocaCola Stock Down 0.8%

CocaCola stock traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $86.88. 5,851,276 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,384,176. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.04 and a 200 day moving average of $78.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $373.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.33. CocaCola Company has a 12-month low of $65.35 and a 12-month high of $90.92.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 2.4%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 63.66%.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter valued at about $552,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CocaCola by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 111,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,802,000 after purchasing an additional 30,786 shares during the last quarter. Greenberg Financial Group purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $507,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,852,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,330,000 after buying an additional 31,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its position in shares of CocaCola by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 49,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,429,000 after buying an additional 14,130 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC cut CocaCola from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $104.00 price target on CocaCola and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial set a $88.00 price objective on CocaCola in a research report on Friday, June 26th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of CocaCola from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Friday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.76.

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.