SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 316,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,705,000.
Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 21,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 39,198 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,440,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Diamond Partners LLC grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.
KO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.24.
Get Our Latest Research Report on KO
In other news, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,769,334. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 145,435 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total value of $10,327,339.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,324,191.46. The trade was a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 232,646 shares of company stock worth $16,515,469 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Shares of NYSE KO opened at $71.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $306.22 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.51. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52-week low of $57.93 and a 52-week high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Coca-Cola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.59%.
The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Before you consider Coca-Cola, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Coca-Cola wasn't on the list.
While Coca-Cola currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.