Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Down 1% – Should You Sell?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s share price fell 1% on Monday . The company traded as low as $61.68 and last traded at $61.81. 2,149,732 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 13,964,419 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.50.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.6 %

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 $63.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.60. The company has a market cap of $267.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hiley Hunt Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola in the third quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in Coca-Cola by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,027,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,689,000 after buying an additional 174,948 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS raised its position in Coca-Cola by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 9,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 19,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. 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.