Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Shares Down 0.2% – Should You Sell?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shares fell 0.2% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $71.71 and last traded at $71.86. 3,061,433 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 15,618,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on KO. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.59.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.2%

The stock has a market cap of $309.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $70.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,676 shares in the company, valued at $6,769,334. The trade was a 12.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 462,407 shares of company stock worth $32,990,056 in the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. New Republic Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 8,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.1% during the first quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 0.7% in the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 20,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 12,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BXM Wealth LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 3,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.