Ingalls & Snyder LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC decreased its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 81,594 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,036 shares during the quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $4,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 103,297.9% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,734,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,672,479,000 after purchasing an additional 57,678,466 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,937,315,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,101,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,031,669,000 after purchasing an additional 10,722,435 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 164.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,430,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $868,981,000 after purchasing an additional 8,979,379 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,764,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $667,373,000 after purchasing an additional 4,095,881 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

NYSE KO traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $58.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,247,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,872,773. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $51.55 and a 1 year high of $64.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $251.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.46.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 42.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 78.23%.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $3,138,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $3,138,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.18.

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.