5,050 Shares in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Bought by Ameriflex Group Inc.

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,617,400,000 after purchasing an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter worth about $3,402,151,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company's stock worth $2,727,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811,756 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company's stock worth $2,123,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,118,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company's stock worth $1,553,337,000 after buying an additional 12,222,885 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 55,500 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total transaction of $3,941,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 246,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,533,008.09. This trade represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 229,761 shares of company stock worth $16,474,587 over the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $75.81.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $71.01. 4,049,139 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,650,934. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $71.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.14. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $60.62 and a twelve month high of $74.38. The firm has a market cap of $305.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Coca-Cola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.60%.

Coca-Cola 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.