Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stock Holdings in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Coca-Cola by 32.3% in Q1, resulting in holdings of around 34 million shares valued at $2.44 billion.
• A majority of Coca-Cola's stock, approximately 70.26%, is owned by institutional investors, highlighting significant institutional interest in the company.
• Coca-Cola recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.51, representing an annualized yield of 2.9% and a payout ratio of 72.34%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 32.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,088,341 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,276,839 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.79% of CocaCola worth $2,441,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of KO. New Republic Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 8,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the company's stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 20,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 12,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BXM Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 3,532 shares of the company's stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $86.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 price target on shares of CocaCola and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $77.21.

CocaCola Stock Performance

NYSE KO traded down $0.5760 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.0840. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,992,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,724,011. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $301.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.44. CocaCola Company has a twelve month low of $60.62 and a twelve month high of $74.38. The business's fifty day moving average price is $69.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.40.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.55 billion. CocaCola had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 44.91%. CocaCola's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. CocaCola has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.970-2.970 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. CocaCola's payout ratio is currently 72.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total value of $2,584,063.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 209,513 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,477,348.30. The trade was a 15.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $19,197,000.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,884,668.76. The trade was a 49.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About CocaCola

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.