Stock Traders Buy High Volume of CocaCola Call Options (NYSE:KO)

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 77,977 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 43% compared to the average daily volume of 54,467 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on CocaCola from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.43.

CocaCola Stock Up 2.2%

NYSE KO traded up $1.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.56. 17,681,415 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,749,258. CocaCola has a 52 week low of $60.62 and a 52 week high of $74.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.58. The company has a market cap of $303.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $11.40 billion during the quarter. CocaCola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 27.34%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CocaCola will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other news, Director Max R. Levchin acquired 7,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $69.87 per share, for a total transaction of $503,483.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,835.29. The trade was a 102.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 13,548 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.93, for a total transaction of $947,411.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,638,109.25. This represents a 26.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of CocaCola by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,885,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,464,464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443,189 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CocaCola during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,846,270,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in CocaCola by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,398,185,000 after purchasing an additional 16,383,870 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,889,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,212,300,000 after buying an additional 1,794,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 27,281,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,930,170,000 after buying an additional 285,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola 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.