Rice Partnership LLC Has $7.65 Million Holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Rice Partnership LLC increased its stake in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,861 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,115 shares during the period. CocaCola comprises about 1.6% of Rice Partnership LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in CocaCola were worth $7,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of CocaCola by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 20,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC boosted its position in CocaCola by 1.2% in the first quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 12,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in CocaCola by 4.2% in the first quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in CocaCola by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. boosted its position in CocaCola by 3.8% in the first quarter. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. now owns 4,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on KO. Cfra Research upgraded shares of CocaCola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CocaCola presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $76.27.

CocaCola Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of KO traded up $0.28 on Friday, reaching $71.19. 9,440,457 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,178,355. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.60. CocaCola Company has a 12 month low of $60.62 and a 12 month high of $74.38.

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

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. CocaCola's dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In related news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 205,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. The trade was a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 187,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This represents a 24.32% decrease in their position. 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 currently owned by company 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.