Insider Selling: The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Insider Sells 80,891 Shares of Stock

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 80,891 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.34, for a total transaction of $5,042,744.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 218,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,644,979.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.0 %

KO traded up $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,771,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,012,044. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $269.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.59. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $51.55 and a twelve month high of $64.36.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released 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. The business had revenue of $11.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.74% and a net margin of 23.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors 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 3.10%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Argus lifted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.55.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,808,056,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,016,023,000 after buying an additional 8,733,326 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,343,000 after buying an additional 4,933,527 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at about $193,342,000. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,051,000 after buying an additional 2,973,234 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.