Empire Life Investments Inc. Raises Position in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Key Points

• Empire Life Investments boosted its Coca-Cola stake by 57.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 102,210 additional shares and bringing its position to 279,447 shares worth about $19.5 million.
• Coca-Cola’s recent fundamentals remain solid: it beat Q1 earnings and revenue expectations, posted 11.4% year-over-year revenue growth, and reaffirmed a FY 2026 EPS guidance range of 3.24 to 3.27.
• Analyst sentiment is bullish, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Buy rating; Coca-Cola also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, yielding about 2.6% annually.

Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 57.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 279,447 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 102,210 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc.'s holdings in CocaCola were worth $19,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KO. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,072 shares of the company's stock worth $2,433,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in CocaCola by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the company's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in CocaCola in the first quarter valued at $210,000. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in CocaCola by 450.5% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 39,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 32,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in CocaCola by 548.2% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about CocaCola

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Coca-Cola is being viewed as a potential beneficiary of growing demand in energy and functional beverages, with investors focusing on its innovation efforts and Monster partnership as possible growth catalysts. Coca-Cola's Energy Drink Expansion: Growth Catalyst Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings beat, solid revenue growth, and steady dividend outlook continue to support the stock’s defensive appeal, especially as investors favor consumer staples in uncertain markets.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several recent price-target increases and a consensus Buy rating, which helps reinforce confidence in Coca-Cola’s longer-term outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns emerged over a Diet Coke shortage in parts of India, where aluminum can supply disruptions are limiting availability and highlighting geopolitical and supply-chain risk for Coca-Cola’s global operations. There's a Diet Coke shortage in India. What's going on?
• Negative Sentiment: Chairman James Quincey sold 200,000 shares in a recent insider transaction, which can weigh on sentiment even though insider sales do not necessarily signal a change in business fundamentals. CocaCola NYSE: KO Chairman Sells $15,780,000.00 in Stock

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In other CocaCola news, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 23,880 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $1,847,595.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,725 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,371,383.25. This represents a 57.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 72,449 shares of CocaCola 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 owned 279,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,538,916.84. This represents a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 755,101 shares of company stock valued at $59,988,566 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CocaCola from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $87.00 target price on CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $88.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.27.

CocaCola Stock Performance

NYSE:KO opened at $80.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. CocaCola Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.35 and a fifty-two week high of $82.00. The firm has a market cap of $344.50 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.03.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

CocaCola Profile

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.

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