Barclays Raises Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) Price Target to $69.00

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Barclays from $68.00 to $69.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.90% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.27.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

KO stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $62.22. The company had a trading volume of 6,307,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,990,373. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.04. The company has a market cap of $268.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.04. Coca-Cola has a twelve month low of $51.55 and a twelve month high of $64.25.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. Coca-Cola’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 323,107 shares of company stock valued at $19,657,742. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KO. ZRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 213.3% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

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.