Piper Sandler Cuts Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target to $73.00

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $74.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on KO. TD Cowen raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.07.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of KO opened at $61.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $265.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Coca-Cola has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.40.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 1.4% during the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.2% in the third quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.0% during the third quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 15,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is 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.