Westbourne Investments Inc. Takes $263,000 Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KO. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 399,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,716,000 after buying an additional 2,069 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 17,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 182,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,116,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 11,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter valued at $412,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 145,435 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total value of $10,327,339.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,324,191.46. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,769,334. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.59.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $72.56 on Thursday. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $60.62 and a one year high of $74.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $70.88 and its 200 day moving average is $66.58. The company has a market capitalization of $312.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. Coca-Cola’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is 81.60%.

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.