Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Grows Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 0.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,027,713 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $126,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KO. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. raised its position in Coca-Cola by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KO shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.47, for a total value of $1,806,547.19. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 52,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,749,745.02. This trade represents a 32.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 valued at $22,263,071 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $72.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52-week low of $60.62 and a 52-week high of $74.38.

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

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is 82.59%.

Coca-Cola Company 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.