Simmons Bank Trims Stock Holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Simmons Bank reduced its stake in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 7.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,494 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,506 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank's holdings in CocaCola were worth $7,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KO. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 360.0% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 460 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moser Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 449.5% during the 1st quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KO. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $19,197,000.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,946 shares in the company, valued at $19,884,668.76. This trade represents a 49.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

CocaCola Trading Up 0.4%

KO stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $71.19. The company had a trading volume of 9,440,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,178,355. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. CocaCola Company has a 52 week low of $60.62 and a 52 week high of $74.38. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $71.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.56. The stock has a market cap of $306.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.45.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.87%. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.60%.

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.