Lafayette Investments Inc. Sells 183 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Lafayette Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 64,451 shares of the company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. CocaCola comprises approximately 0.9% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $4,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CocaCola by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 361,200,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,869,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,422 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 52.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,398,185,000 after buying an additional 16,383,870 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in CocaCola by 6.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,889,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,212,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,561 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in CocaCola by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 21,236,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,554,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,922,619 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in CocaCola in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,508,657,000. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total value of $2,584,063.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 209,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,477,348.30. This represents a 15.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on KO. BNP Paribas reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 price target on shares of CocaCola and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CocaCola from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of CocaCola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fourteen have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CocaCola currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.69.

CocaCola Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KO opened at $68.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $294.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.69. CocaCola Company has a fifty-two week low of $60.62 and a fifty-two week high of $74.38.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. CocaCola had a return on equity of 44.91% and a net margin of 25.89%.The business had revenue of $11.40 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is currently 72.34%.

CocaCola 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.