Empire Financial Management Company LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Empire Financial Management Company LLC trimmed its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,005 shares of the company’s stock after selling 413 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,617,400,000 after acquiring an additional 11,569,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth $3,402,151,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,123,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,118,819 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,337,000 after buying an additional 12,222,885 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,566,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,529,537,000 after buying an additional 3,791,300 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 145,435 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total transaction of $10,327,339.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,324,191.46. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 over the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cfra Research raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.06.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

NYSE:KO opened at $73.32 on Thursday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1-year low of $59.84 and a 1-year high of $74.38. The stock has a market cap of $315.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.47.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. On average, research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.59%.

About Coca-Cola

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.