Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Buys 64,648 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,560,884 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 64,648 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.06% of Coca-Cola worth $150,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 12.2% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 41,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 4,527 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 7.6% in the third quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 10.3% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 61,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,435,000 after buying an additional 5,707 shares during the last quarter. Cohen Lawrence B raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.8% in the third quarter. Cohen Lawrence B now owns 40,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 46,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KO. Barclays raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total transaction of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,968,753.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742 in the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of KO stock traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $61.75. The stock had a trading volume of 19,043,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,033,869. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $51.55 and a 1 year high of $64.69. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.74.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 42.50% and a net margin of 23.42%. 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 business earned $0.45 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. 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 presently 78.23%.

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.