Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Raised to “Buy” at DZ Bank

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) was upgraded by analysts at DZ Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $75.00 target price on the stock. DZ Bank’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 8.93% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research 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, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock opened at $68.85 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $62.90 and its 200 day moving average is $66.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $296.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.61. Coca-Cola has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. As a group, research analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,617,400,000 after buying an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter valued at $3,402,151,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,727,131,000 after buying an additional 3,811,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.