Market Update (NYSE:KO): PHOTO ADVISORY: Coca-Cola CEO Highlights Long-Term Growth at Annual Meeting of Shareowners

[Business Wire] – Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, presides over the company’s Annual Meeting of Shareowners today. “We don’t manage this business only for the next quarter; we manage it also for the next quarter century,” Kent said, noting that a Coca-Cola share has more than doubled in value over the past decade. Read more on this. The Coca-Cola Company (KO) , currently valued at $193.02B, began trading this morning at $44.64. Looking at the equity, the company’s one day range is $44.38 to $44.86 and has traded between $36.56 and $47.13 over the past year. Priced at 22.95x this year’s forecasted earnings, KO shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 20.18x forward p/e ratio. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.40 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.14%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 20 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.59 per share, which would be $0.04 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.02 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $1.94 is a $0.06 worse when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $11.76 Billion. If realized, that would be a 3.21% decrease over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Societe Generale upgraded KO from Sell to Hold (Feb 10, 2016). Previously, Stifel upgraded KO from Hold to Buy. Investors should keep in mind is that the average price target is $47.91, which is 7.33% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:KO) Similar Articles: Market Update: The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) – Argentina says Coca-Cola to invest $1 bln over four years Market Update: The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) – Coca-Cola Announces “One Brand” Global Marketing Approach Market Update: The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) – European Coca-Cola bottlers merger win EU antitrust approval