CocaCola Company (The) $KO Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. boosted its Coca-Cola stake by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 93,246 shares valued at about $6.5 million.
• Insider selling was notable, with CFO John Murphy and EVP Monica Howard Douglas both selling shares; insiders have sold 555,101 shares over the last 90 days.
• Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $12.47 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, yielding about 2.7% annually.

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 22.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,246 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,968 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in CocaCola were worth $6,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anfield Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CocaCola by 438.8% during the 4th quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in CocaCola during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CocaCola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in CocaCola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CocaCola during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Murphy sold 72,449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $5,833,593.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 279,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,538,916.84. The trade was a 20.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 23,880 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $1,847,595.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,725 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,371,383.25. This trade represents a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 555,101 shares of company stock worth $44,208,566. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

CocaCola Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $78.40 on Friday. CocaCola Company has a twelve month low of $65.35 and a twelve month high of $82.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $337.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.84.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. CocaCola had a return on equity of 40.55% and a net margin of 27.80%.The business had revenue of $12.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.240-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. CocaCola's payout ratio is 66.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on KO. Weiss Ratings upgraded CocaCola from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.27.

Key Stories Impacting CocaCola

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its FY2026 EPS estimate to $3.26, matching the Street consensus and reinforcing confidence in Coca-Cola’s near-term earnings outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research also increased its Q3 2026 and Q3 2027 EPS estimates, and Erste Group Bank lifted its FY2026 and FY2027 forecasts, indicating continued analyst optimism about the company’s operating performance.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some longer-dated estimates were trimmed slightly, including Q4 2026, Q2 2027, and FY2028, but the cuts were small and do not materially change the overall earnings picture.

About CocaCola

The Coca‑Cola Company NYSE: KO is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.