Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 114,942 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,037,937 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 114,942 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in CocaCola were worth $74,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CocaCola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,402,151,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in CocaCola by 96.0% during the fourth 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in CocaCola by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,123,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,118,819 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in CocaCola by 8,419.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,961,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $426,927,000 after purchasing an additional 5,891,034 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in CocaCola by 119.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,458,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $588,871,000 after purchasing an additional 5,139,352 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KO. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CocaCola currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $76.71.

CocaCola Stock Performance

NYSE KO opened at $69.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $70.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.82. CocaCola Company has a 1 year low of $60.62 and a 1 year high of $74.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $300.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.45.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 205,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. The trade was a 30.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 187,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,491,148.92. The trade was a 24.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CocaCola 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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