Welch Group LLC Grows Position in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 259,317 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,652 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $18,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of KO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the first quarter valued at about $1,508,657,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 52.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,398,185,000 after purchasing an additional 16,383,870 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the first quarter valued at about $642,183,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 47.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 11,844,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $848,315,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810,752 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 16.0% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 21,236,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,922,619 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. BNP Paribas reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 target price on shares of CocaCola and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CocaCola presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $2,584,063.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 209,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE KO opened at $67.05 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.84. CocaCola Company has a 12 month low of $60.62 and a 12 month high of $74.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $288.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.78, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.43.

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

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.34%.

CocaCola 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.