Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Raises Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,393 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KO. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Avion Wealth grew its position in Coca-Cola by 64.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC grew its position in Coca-Cola by 36.1% during the third quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $3,138,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $3,138,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $61.81. 9,038,111 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,904,693. The company has a market cap of $266.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $64.69.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 42.50%. Coca-Cola’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.23%.

About Coca-Cola

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.