Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,575 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,381 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in CocaCola were worth $8,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KO. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in CocaCola by 360.0% in the 1st quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 460 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CocaCola by 449.5% in the 1st quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Cfra Research raised CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $76.27.

CocaCola Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE KO traded down $0.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $70.21. 4,148,584 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,135,021. The business's fifty day moving average is $71.06 and its 200 day moving average is $68.70. CocaCola Company has a fifty-two week low of $60.62 and a fifty-two week high of $74.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.10.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. CocaCola's payout ratio is 81.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,884,668.76. This represents a 49.12% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 187,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This represents a 24.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

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.