Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 44.9% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 38,142 shares.
• The company reported $0.87 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.83, with a net margin of 25.89%.
• Coca-Cola recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.51 per share, which will be paid on October 1st, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.95%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 44.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,997 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 38,142 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in CocaCola were worth $8,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,402,151,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company's stock worth $1,553,337,000 after purchasing an additional 12,222,885 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in CocaCola by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company's stock worth $2,123,301,000 after buying an additional 6,118,819 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in CocaCola by 8,419.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,961,004 shares of the company's stock worth $426,927,000 after buying an additional 5,891,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in CocaCola by 119.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,458,248 shares of the company's stock worth $588,871,000 after buying an additional 5,139,352 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 price objective on CocaCola and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.21.

CocaCola Trading Up 0.1%

KO stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $69.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,568,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,367,130. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.34. CocaCola Company has a 12-month low of $60.62 and a 12-month high of $74.38. The firm has a market cap of $297.75 billion, a PE ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.21.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.55 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 44.91% and a net margin of 25.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. This trade represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total value 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 $13,491,148.92. The trade was a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.