Challenger Wealth Management Buys New Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Challenger Wealth Management purchased a new position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 11,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $685,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 18.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,569,920 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,402,151,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 43,802,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,727,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,811,756 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,123,301,000 after acquiring an additional 6,118,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,553,337,000 after acquiring an additional 12,222,885 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Coca-Cola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In related news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. The trade was a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total transaction of $3,882,079.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 246,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,520,662.64. This represents a 18.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 284,469 shares of company stock worth $20,356,667 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.1%

KO stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.73. 10,658,148 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,711,147. The firm has a market capitalization of $308.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $60.62 and a 1 year high of $74.38.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) 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. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. Coca-Cola's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Coca-Cola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.