The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 345,289 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,244 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $20,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 25,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 107,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after acquiring an additional 18,955 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter worth $670,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 303,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,869,000 after buying an additional 3,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 305,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,004,000 after buying an additional 14,386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

NYSE:KO traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $62.36. 9,309,869 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,967,127. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.25. The company has a market capitalization of $268.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 323,107 shares of company stock worth $19,657,742 in the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.