Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Down 1.6% - What's Next?

Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) traded down 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $71.13 and last traded at $71.38. 5,450,007 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 15,353,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Cfra Research raised shares of Coca-Cola to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $75.06.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $309.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $70.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.48.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Coca-Cola's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Coca-Cola's payout ratio is 82.59%.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total transaction of $3,882,079.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at $17,520,662.64. This represents a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,423 shares of company stock valued at $22,263,071 in the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KO. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 360.0% during the first quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 460 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

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.