The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,331,880 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,175 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $167,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,680,205,000 after acquiring an additional 11,206,995 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,479,000 after acquiring an additional 177,241 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,793,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $847,468,000 after buying an additional 222,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.3% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 8,310,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $532,558,000 after buying an additional 640,402 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

NYSE KO opened at $63.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $274.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1-year low of $57.47 and a 1-year high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KO. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.14.

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.