Coca-Cola Co. (KO, Financial) announced its third-quarter earnings before the market’s open on Oct. 25. The company is also paying a quarterly dividend of 37 cents on Dec. 15 with an ex-dividend date of Nov. 30.
Third-quarter earnings
Coca-Cola’s third-quarter earnings beat revenue and earnings per share estimates. Revenue was $9.1 billion and earnings per share were reported at 50 cents.
Revenue of $9.1 billion beat estimates by $240 million and reported a 15% decrease from the comparable quarter. Revenue contributed to full-year revenue of $27.9 billion. For the year, revenue is now down 14%. Bottling investments are reporting the greatest portion of revenue at 33% with a 41% decrease in revenue from 2016.
Net income for the quarter was $2.176 billion, increasing from $2.150 billion in the comparable quarter. Earnings per share of 50 cents increased from 49 cents in the comparable quarter and beat estimates by one cent. Net income for the year is now $6.601 billion, down 2% from 2016. Earnings per share for the year are $1.53, down 1% from $1.55 in 2016. The Europe, Middle East and Africa segment is reporting the greatest portion of net income at 45% with a 0.5% decrease from 2016.
For the year, the company is estimating 3% growth in adjusted organic revenues. Earnings per share for the year are expected to decrease 0% to 2% from 2016’s earnings per share of $1.91.
December dividend
On Oct. 19, the company announced its most recent dividend of 37 cents, which is payable on Dec. 15. The dividend has an ex-dividend date of Nov. 30. The company is a dividend aristocrat, increasing its dividend annually for the past 25 years. In March, it increased the dividend from 35 cents to its current payout rate of 37 cents.
The company has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.16%. Its forward dividend yield is 3.17%.
The stock is currently trading at $46.70 with a return of 12.33% for the year. For the one-year period it has a return of 9.47%, and for the three-year period it is returning 13.5%.
Coca-Cola has 4.3 billion shares outstanding with a market cap of $199.3 billion. Institutional shareholders own 68% of the outstanding stock. The stock’s top institutional shareholder is Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) with 9% of the outstanding shares.
Disclosure: I do not own any shares of Coca-Cola.
