Founders Capital Management Trims Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Founders Capital Management trimmed its holdings in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 29.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,834 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,478 shares during the quarter. Coca-Cola accounts for about 0.5% of Founders Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Founders Capital Management's holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the company's stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the company's stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 29,412 shares of the company's stock worth $1,831,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the company's stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Diamond Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the company's stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 55,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total transaction of $3,941,055.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,533,008.09. The trade was a 18.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 229,761 shares of company stock valued at $16,474,587 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.81.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:KO traded down $0.13 on Monday, hitting $71.98. 10,196,133 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,726,094. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $60.62 and a 12 month high of $74.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Coca-Cola's payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Coca-Cola 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.