Santori & Peters Inc. Acquires New Position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Santori & Peters Inc. acquired a new stake in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,402,151,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,337,000 after acquiring an additional 12,222,885 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in CocaCola by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,617,400,000 after purchasing an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in CocaCola in the 4th quarter worth about $500,192,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of CocaCola by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,103,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,123,301,000 after purchasing an additional 6,118,819 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $6,391,355.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $19,197,000.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares in the company, valued at $19,884,668.76. This trade represents a 49.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $69.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $299.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.46. CocaCola Company has a 1 year low of $60.62 and a 1 year high of $74.38.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CocaCola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cfra Research upgraded CocaCola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.27.

About CocaCola

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.