Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target Increased to $68.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $66.00 to $68.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $67.18.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO stock opened at $58.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.05 and a 200-day moving average of $58.49. Coca-Cola has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $64.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $251.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.59.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 42.50%. The business had revenue of $10.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is 78.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $26,968,753.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $26,968,753.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $3,138,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 143,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,602,980. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 375,407 shares of company stock worth $22,795,742 over the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 80,448,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,503,484,000 after buying an additional 1,950,146 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,138,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,501,789,000 after buying an additional 2,464,618 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 103,297.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,734,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,672,479,000 after buying an additional 57,678,466 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,808,056,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,913,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,514,234,000 after buying an additional 2,040,664 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.