Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Cuts Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC cut its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,031,012 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,125 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $64,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the third quarter worth about $18,383,000. Balentine LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 92.4% during the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 28,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,048,000 after acquiring an additional 13,685 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 104.9% during the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 116,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,351,000 after acquiring an additional 59,503 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 5.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 850,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,122,000 after acquiring an additional 46,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.8% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 457,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,895,000 after purchasing an additional 21,005 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:KO traded up $0.59 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.43. 6,824,580 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,118,582. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1-year low of $57.93 and a 1-year high of $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $264.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KO. Barclays cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

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.