Coca-Cola Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 91,479 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 68% compared to the average volume of 54,383 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the company's stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,956 shares of the company's stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 4,890 shares of the company's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Peachtree Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the company's stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KO. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

NYSE KO traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,582,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,649,188. The stock has a market cap of $296.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.61. Coca-Cola has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The company's 50-day moving average is $62.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. Analysts forecast that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

About Coca-Cola

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.