West Michigan Advisors LLC Has $710,000 Stock Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,398 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KO. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on KO. Barclays boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. TD Cowen upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,676 shares in the company, valued at $6,769,334. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 232,646 shares of company stock valued at $16,515,469. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of KO opened at $71.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $306.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52 week low of $57.93 and a 52 week high of $73.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. On average, analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is currently 82.59%.

Coca-Cola 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.