The Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) share price is seesawing this Thursday.
At the time of writing, Coles shares are down 0.17% to $17.39 a share. They sunk as low as $17.36 in early trade, rebounded strongly to $17.58, before retreating to their current price.
By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gone backward by 1.08% so far today to 7,431 points.
Year-to-date so far in 2021, the Coles share price remains a disappointing investment, down by almost 6%.
Over the past 12 months, Coles shares are up by more than 3%. Both of those numbers trail the ASX 200, which has gained around 11% year to date, and 26% over the past year.
So it seems investors have reacted poorly to Coles' FY21 earnings report that the company released on 18 August.
That was when the grocer reported modest revenue growth of 3.1%, as well as an increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) by 5.4% to $3.43 billion.
That helped Coles raise its final dividend to 28 cents per share, fully franked. That means Coles' total dividend for FY21 was 61 cents per share, a record high and a 6.1% increase over FY20's payouts.
Despite all of those metrics, investors evidently haven't been too impressed. That's because, since 18 August, the Coles share price has fallen by around 5% by today's pricing.
So, at today's levels, where does the Coles share price stand? Could this possibly be a buying opportunity?
Could Coles shares be a buy today?
Well, as my Fool colleague Tristan covered yesterday, there is one broker who is optimistic about Coles shares right now. That would be Morgans.
Morgans currently rates Coles as a 'buy', with a 12-month share price target of $19.80 a share. That implies a potential future upside of around 13.8% over the next year.
The broker is bullish on Coles due to the shape of its balance sheet, which Morgans thinks will enable both future dividend increases, as well as continued investment in the business's future.
No doubt Coles investors will be hoping that all comes to pass.
At the current Coles share price, the supermarket giant has a market capitalisation of around $23 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.26 and a dividend yield of 3.48%.
