Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 292,163 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,796,760 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 292,163 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in CocaCola were worth $125,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the second quarter worth $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the third quarter worth $27,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of CocaCola from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CocaCola from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial set a $85.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 250,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.14, for a total value of $19,839,448.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 278,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,013,186.70. This represents a 47.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 23,880 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $1,847,595.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 17,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,383.25. This represents a 57.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 892,925 shares of company stock valued at $70,254,796. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CocaCola Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of KO opened at $74.63 on Thursday. CocaCola Company has a twelve month low of $65.35 and a twelve month high of $82.00. The company has a market cap of $321.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.11.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. CocaCola had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 41.31%. The business had revenue of $11.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.210-3.240 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from CocaCola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. CocaCola’s payout ratio is currently 69.74%.

CocaCola Profile

The Coca?Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca?Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready?to?drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca?Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca?Cola, Diet Coke, Coca?Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.