CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Trading Up 1.8% – Should You Buy?

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)’s share price was up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $88.97 and last traded at $88.6640. Approximately 17,221,449 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 17,014,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $104.00 price objective on CocaCola and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on CocaCola from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. HSBC lowered shares of CocaCola from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Bank of America lifted their target price on CocaCola from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.76.

CocaCola Trading Up 1.1%

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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.98. The stock has a market cap of $383.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.34.

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

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 63.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CocaCola news, CFO John Murphy sold 152,483 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.31, for a total transaction of $13,313,290.73. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 279,917 shares in the company, valued at $24,439,553.27. The trade was a 35.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Sanket Ray sold 9,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.50, for a total transaction of $861,367.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 62,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,372,082.50. This trade represents a 13.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 926,620 shares of company stock worth $83,075,714 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CocaCola

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter worth about $3,865,807,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in CocaCola by 867.2% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,432,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,954,000 after purchasing an additional 12,939,959 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in CocaCola by 98.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,573,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $879,015,000 after purchasing an additional 6,246,627 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,679,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,004,962,000 after buying an additional 5,529,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in CocaCola by 10,842.4% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,781,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,430,000 after acquiring an additional 4,738,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Company Profile

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage company best known for its Coca-Cola soft drink, which was first introduced in 1886. The company was incorporated in 1892 and has grown into one of the world’s largest beverage businesses.

Its portfolio includes sparkling soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite and Fanta, along with water, sports drinks, coffee, tea, juice and dairy-based beverages. Other brands associated with the company include Dasani, smartwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Costa Coffee, fairlife and Topo Chico.

The Coca-Cola Company primarily develops, owns and markets beverage brands, while relying on a global network of independent bottling partners and distributors to manufacture, package and deliver many of its products.