The Coca-Cola Company to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.49 (NYSE:KO)

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.485 per share on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Coca-Cola has increased its dividend by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 63 consecutive years. Coca-Cola has a payout ratio of 63.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Coca-Cola to earn $3.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock opened at $70.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.72. Coca-Cola has a 12 month low of $53.86 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The company has a market cap of $303.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $12.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Coca-Cola will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 37,787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.96, for a total transaction of $2,530,217.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,954,176.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Coca-Cola news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 38,653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.01, for a total value of $2,667,443.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 37,787 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.96, for a total transaction of $2,530,217.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,954,176.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 356,792 shares of company stock worth $24,728,364 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on KO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com lowered Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

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.