Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New Investment in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,271,885,000 after purchasing an additional 4,013,996 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter valued at about $269,382,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 7,006.8% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,478,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,104,000 after buying an additional 2,443,612 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on KO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.60.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.5 %

KO stock opened at $61.98 on Wednesday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $57.93 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.78 and its 200 day moving average is $66.47. The company has a market capitalization of $267.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.