Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Now Covered by Piper Sandler

Analysts at Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 19.88% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.60.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:KO opened at $61.73 on Tuesday. Coca-Cola has a 52-week low of $57.93 and a 52-week high of $73.53. The company has a market capitalization of $265.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.07 and a 200-day moving average of $66.52.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The company had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coca-Cola

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after buying an additional 4,013,996 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $269,382,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 7,006.8% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,478,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,443,612 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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.