JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target to $65.00

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its target price cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

KO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup lifted 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $67.09.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO stock opened at $60.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.61. Coca-Cola has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $64.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $259.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.26, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 42.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Coca-Cola will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 78.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KO. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 80,448,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,503,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950,146 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $3,501,789,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,618 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $3,672,479,000 after purchasing an additional 57,678,466 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,808,056,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 4.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,913,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,514,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.