Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target Increased to $69.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $68.00 to $69.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on KO. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $68.27.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO opened at $62.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.12. The stock has a market cap of $268.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. The company had revenue of $11.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total transaction of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 323,107 shares of company stock valued at $19,657,742 in the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Coca-Cola in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 213.3% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.