Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 72,457 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 43% compared to the typical volume of 50,522 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Coca-Cola in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coca-Cola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KO. FMR LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,680,205,000 after buying an additional 11,206,995 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,664,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966,964 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 6.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,984,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,990,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609,565 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO opened at $62.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Coca-Cola has a 1-year low of $57.93 and a 1-year high of $73.53. The stock has a market cap of $270.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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.