Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 76,303 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 47% compared to the average volume of 51,905 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coca-Cola

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the first quarter valued at approximately $452,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 57,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 7,226 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 25,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. Montchanin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the 1st quarter worth approximately $791,000. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 15.3% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 76,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,695,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KO. Barclays dropped their price target on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Cfra reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.36.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of KO stock opened at $64.43 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.22 and a 200-day moving average of $66.56. The stock has a market cap of $277.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.61. Coca-Cola has a 52-week low of $57.47 and a 52-week high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06.

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

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

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.