Coca-Cola Company (The)’s (NYSE:KO) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reissued their hold rating on shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) in a research note released on Friday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $45.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. TheStreet upgraded Coca-Cola Company (The) from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a buy rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Vetr upgraded Coca-Cola Company (The) from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $44.81 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Coca-Cola Company (The) from a sell rating to a buy rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, UBS AG set a $48.00 price target on Coca-Cola Company (The) and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $45.70.

Shares of Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) traded down 0.33% during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $45.59. 8,357,607 shares of the stock traded hands. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.14 and its 200 day moving average is $43.57. Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $39.88 and a one year high of $46.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Coca-Cola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Coca-Cola Company (The) had a return on equity of 34.53% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $9.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Coca-Cola Company will post $1.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Coca-Cola Company (The)’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 154.17%.

In other news, insider Jennifer K. Mann sold 8,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.61, for a total transaction of $402,234.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,553 shares in the company, valued at $1,393,522.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $460,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,541,028. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 614,841 shares of company stock valued at $27,900,186. 1.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Coca-Cola Company (The) during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,486,731,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) by 845.4% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 7,250,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,667,000 after buying an additional 6,483,151 shares during the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $202,883,000 after buying an additional 4,865,457 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 275,221,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,343,662,000 after buying an additional 4,818,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HS Management Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola Company (The) during the second quarter valued at about $152,243,000. 63.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.