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

CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 75,333 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 46% compared to the average daily volume of 51,548 call options.

Insider Transactions at CocaCola

In other news, Chairman James Quincey sold 436,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.13, for a total value of $34,960,398.48. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 122,833 shares in the company, valued at $9,842,608.29. This represents a 78.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 31,625 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.93, for a total value of $2,559,411.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,074,096.90. The trade was a 12.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 899,905 shares of company stock valued at $71,832,315 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CocaCola

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anfield Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CocaCola by 438.8% during the 4th quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola during the second quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CocaCola by 1,081.8% during the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 390 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

More CocaCola News

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity pointed to bullish interest, with investors buying 75,333 call options on KO, about 46% above normal daily volume. Unusual options trading in Coca-Cola
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary noted KO was still drawing support as a defensive stock, with traders looking ahead to the July 28 earnings release and recent analyst optimism. Coca-Cola stock commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: Coca-Cola also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, reinforcing its appeal as an income stock, though this is not likely the main driver of the move.
• Negative Sentiment: Fairlife’s U.S. production halt after the cyberattack is the key negative catalyst, since the brand is a growth engine for Coca-Cola and the disruption could weigh on near-term results and investor sentiment. Reuters report on fairlife cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Media coverage framed the event as part of a broader rise in cyber incidents, increasing concern that recovery could take time and create additional operational uncertainty for KO. Cyber incident coverage

CocaCola Trading Down 4.0%

KO stock traded down $3.42 on Friday, hitting $81.50. 32,877,583 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,464,295. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $350.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.34. CocaCola has a twelve month low of $65.35 and a twelve month high of $85.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.60.

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

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on KO shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CocaCola from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on CocaCola from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $91.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.81.

CocaCola Company Profile

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.