The Coca-Cola Company Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.485 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Coca-Cola has increased its dividend by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 63 years. Coca-Cola has a dividend payout ratio of 65.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Coca-Cola to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.5%.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $64.43 on Thursday. Coca-Cola has a 52-week low of $57.47 and a 52-week high of $73.53. The stock has a market cap of $277.55 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business’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.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KO. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Cfra reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.36.

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.