CocaCola (NYSE:KO) Stock Price Down 4% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) dropped 4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $80.83 and last traded at $81.50. 32,449,209 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 86% from the average session volume of 17,464,295 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.92.

Trending Headlines about CocaCola

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Heavy call-option activity suggests traders are positioning for a rebound or expecting volatility around the stock. Traders bought 75,333 call options, well above the recent average. Quiver Quant article on Coca-Cola options activity and cyberattack
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage noted KO benefiting from its defensive profile as investors look for more stable dividend names ahead of earnings, which may be helping support interest in the stock despite the cybersecurity issue. Benzinga article on Coca-Cola stock movement
• Neutral Sentiment: Coca-Cola also announced a quarterly dividend, reinforcing its appeal as a high-quality income stock, though this is unlikely to be the main driver of today’s trading.
• Negative Sentiment: The fairlife cyberattack is the key negative catalyst, since it hit a growth brand and temporarily suspended U.S. production, raising fears of lost revenue and added recovery costs. Reuters article on fairlife production halt

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of CocaCola from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial set a $88.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CocaCola from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on CocaCola from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CocaCola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.81.

CocaCola Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $81.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.63. The stock has a market cap of $350.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. CocaCola had a net margin of 27.80% and a return on equity of 40.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.240-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In other CocaCola news, EVP Jennifer K. Mann sold 23,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,000,505.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 157,400 shares in the company, valued at $13,128,734. The trade was a 13.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman James Quincey sold 436,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.13, for a total transaction of $34,960,398.48. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 122,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,842,608.29. The trade was a 78.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 899,905 shares of company stock worth $71,832,315. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CocaCola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in CocaCola by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 374,771,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,200,276,000 after acquiring an additional 5,886,352 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 167,850,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,734,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992,327 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CocaCola by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 89,984,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,273,037,000 after acquiring an additional 433,547 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter valued at $3,865,807,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of CocaCola by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 44,018,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,347,642,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

About CocaCola

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.