Artemis Investment Management LLP Invests $116.69 Million in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,629,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $116,688,000. CocaCola makes up approximately 1.8% of Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,402,151,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in CocaCola by 96.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,553,337,000 after purchasing an additional 12,222,885 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CocaCola by 18.5% during the 4th 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CocaCola in the 4th quarter worth approximately $500,192,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in CocaCola 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 purchasing an additional 6,118,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CocaCola has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $76.27.

Insider Transactions at CocaCola

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $19,197,000.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,884,668.76. This represents a 49.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total value of $4,335,629.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 187,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,491,148.92. This represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CocaCola Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $69.51 on Friday. CocaCola Company has a 1-year low of $60.62 and a 1-year high of $74.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business's 50 day moving average is $71.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.46.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. CocaCola's quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

CocaCola 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.

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