GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 13,261 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 19.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,231 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,261 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in CocaCola were worth $5,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in CocaCola by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CocaCola by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Excalibur Management Corp lifted its stake in CocaCola by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 29,412 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,831,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in CocaCola by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in CocaCola by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 187,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This trade represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of CocaCola 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 275,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Cfra Research raised shares of 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 report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CocaCola currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $76.27.

CocaCola Trading Up 1.4%

KO traded up $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.42. The company had a trading volume of 23,464,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,098,647. The stock has a market cap of $303.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.32. CocaCola Company has a 52 week low of $60.62 and a 52 week high of $74.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio 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.