Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Trims Position in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. has reduced its position in CocaCola by 21.9%, selling 863,200 shares in the first quarter, and now owns approximately 3 million shares valued at about $220.97 million.
• Several institutional investors have adjusted their stakes, with New Republic Capital LLC increasing its stake by 1.6% during the same quarter, indicating ongoing interest in CocaCola's stock.
• CocaCola reported a $0.87 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.83, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.51 per share to be paid in October.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 21.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,085,282 shares of the company's stock after selling 863,200 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.07% of CocaCola worth $220,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the company's stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 551,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,536,000 after purchasing an additional 50,881 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 224.4% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 12,948 shares of the company's stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 8,957 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 951,457 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,620,000 after purchasing an additional 71,582 shares during the period. Finally, GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CocaCola by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 341,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,423,000 after purchasing an additional 21,932 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 target price on CocaCola and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on CocaCola from $86.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $81.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CocaCola currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.21.

CocaCola Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of KO stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $68.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,557,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,880,996. CocaCola Company has a 52-week low of $60.62 and a 52-week high of $74.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $293.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.43.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. CocaCola had a return on equity of 44.91% and a net margin of 25.89%.The firm had revenue of $12.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.970-2.970 EPS. Research analysts predict that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. CocaCola's payout ratio is currently 72.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total value of $2,584,063.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 209,513 shares in the company, valued at $14,477,348.30. The trade was a 15.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About CocaCola

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.