Coca-Cola shares rebound on Tuesday, stock upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley, price target also raised

Shares of Coca-Cola Company (KO) rebounded on Tuesday, after Morgan Stanley revised up its rating on the stock from “Equal Weight” to “Overweight”. The firm also raised its 12-month price target from $52 to $55 per share.

The beverage giant is now Morgan Stanleys top mega-cap staples stock pick, according to a report by TheStreet.

Coca-Cola shares closed higher for the third time in the past ten trading sessions in New York on Tuesday. The stock went up 1.33% ($0.64) to $48.69, after touching an intraday high at $49.31, or a price level not seen since February 13th ($49.94).

Shares of Coca-Cola Company have risen 2.83% so far in 2019 compared with a 13.07% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Coca-Colas stock went up 3.20%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

“We believe KO offers a clearly superior growth outlook vs. consumer packaged goods peers, with stronger pricing power, favorable strategy tweaks, solid volume growth, and rebounding emerging market trends, which are not reflected in relative valuation below historical long-term averages,” Morgan Stanley analyst Dara Mohsenian wrote in a client note.

Coca-Cola reported earnings of $0.48 per share during the first quarter, which outstripped a consensus of estimates of $0.46 per share. At the same time, the companys total revenue was reported at $8.02 billion during the quarter, again above market consensus of $7.88 billion.

According to CNN Money, the 22 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Coca-Cola Companys stock price, have a median target of $52.50, with a high estimate of $56.00 and a low estimate of $47.00. The median estimate represents a 7.83% upside compared to the closing price of $48.69 on May 14th.

The same media also reported that 14 out of 26 surveyed investment analysts had rated Coca-Cola Companys stock as “Hold”, while 9 – as “Buy”.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Coca-Cola Company (KO) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $47.96
R1 – $48.84
R2 – $49.50
R3 – $50.38
R4 – $51.27

S1 – $47.30
S2 – $46.42
S3 – $45.76
S4 – $45.11