Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Trading Down 1% on Insider Selling

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s stock price fell 1% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $63.01 and last traded at $63.10. 1,632,329 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 12,938,211 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.76.

Specifically, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $3,551,903.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 167,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,358,962.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $3,551,903.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 167,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,358,962.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,883,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,280,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 822,284 shares of company stock worth $567,718,040 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on KO shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.83.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.4 %

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 company has a market cap of $270.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.02.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.60%.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,808,056,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 21.5% in the first 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,343,000 after buying an additional 4,933,527 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth $193,342,000. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,051,000 after acquiring an additional 2,973,234 shares in the last quarter. 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.