Coca-Cola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) - Investment analysts at Jefferies Group lifted their FY2017 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Coca-Cola Company (The) in a research note issued on Wednesday. Jefferies Group analyst K. Grundy now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $1.91 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $1.89. Jefferies Group has a “Neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for Coca-Cola Company (The)’s Q4 2017 earnings at $0.41 EPS, FY2018 earnings at $2.00 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $2.11 EPS.
Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on KO. Deutsche Bank AG reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (up previously from $44.00) on shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) in a report on Thursday. Zacks Investment Research raised Coca-Cola Company (The) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $51.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday. Vetr downgraded Coca-Cola Company (The) from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $44.58 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Coca-Cola Company (The) from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.98 to $46.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares Inc set a $39.00 price target on Coca-Cola Company (The) and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Coca-Cola Company (The) currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.48.
Coca-Cola Company (KO) opened at 46.01 on Friday. Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $39.88 and a 12 month high of $46.43. The stock has a market cap of $196.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.59 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.27.
Coca-Cola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.62 billion. Coca-Cola Company (The) had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 34.53%. Coca-Cola Company (The)’s revenue was down 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Coca-Cola Company (The)’s dividend payout ratio is currently 154.17%.
In other news, insider J Alexander Douglas, Jr. sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total value of $951,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 319,436 shares in the company, valued at $13,815,607. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Irial Finan sold 354,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $15,936,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 780,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,111,610. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 527,384 shares of company stock valued at $23,596,188. 1.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,486,731,000. Aristotle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) by 17,376.6% in the fourth quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 4,893,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,883,000 after buying an additional 4,865,457 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) by 66.1% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,514,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,344,000 after buying an additional 3,387,300 shares during the period. AMF Pensionsforsakring AB boosted its stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) by 281.0% in the fourth quarter. AMF Pensionsforsakring AB now owns 2,793,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,814,000 after buying an additional 2,060,259 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) by 1.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 173,789,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,375,663,000 after buying an additional 2,009,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.74% of the company’s stock.
About Coca-Cola Company (The)
The Coca-Cola Company is a beverage company. The Company owns or licenses and markets non-alcoholic beverage brands, primarily sparkling beverages and a range of still beverages, such as waters, flavored waters and enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, sports drinks, dairy and energy drinks.
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