Verus Financial Partners Inc. Has $323,000 Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 26.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KO. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,343,000 after acquiring an additional 4,933,527 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,138,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,501,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,618 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Coca-Cola by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,913,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,514,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,664 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,845,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,446,822,000 after buying an additional 1,963,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 80,448,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,503,484,000 after buying an additional 1,950,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on KO. UBS Group increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.27.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $62.98. 2,945,066 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,758,578. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $64.25. The company has a market capitalization of $271.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $11.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $3,551,903.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 167,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,358,962.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $3,551,903.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 167,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,358,962.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 380,405 shares of company stock valued at $23,209,645 over the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

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.