Coca-Cola Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:KO)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 25th, 2023

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO – Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 70,174 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 31% compared to the typical daily volume of 53,453 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $69.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $71.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.50.

Get Our Latest Research Report on KO

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 92,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.86, for a total transaction of $4,956,681.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $23,835,527.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 92,029 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.86, for a total value of $4,956,681.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $23,835,527.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.66, for a total transaction of $3,133,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 143,383 shares in the company, valued at $8,984,378.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 411,422 shares of company stock worth $24,424,662. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Coca-Cola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 103,297.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,734,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,672,479,000 after acquiring an additional 57,678,466 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at $2,937,315,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,101,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,031,669,000 after acquiring an additional 10,722,435 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 164.7% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,430,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $868,981,000 after acquiring an additional 8,979,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the second quarter valued at $429,854,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.96% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $55.64 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.17 and a 200-day moving average of $60.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.56. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $64.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.74 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.06% and a net margin of 23.81%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Coca-Cola will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 30th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 75.72%.

About Coca-Cola

(Get Free Report)

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.