FORA Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 20,872 The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 20,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,299,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 893,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,610,000 after purchasing an additional 8,810 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 25,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,774 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 55,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. DZ Bank raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.59.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

KO stock opened at $71.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $60.62 and a 12-month high of $74.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $3,882,079.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at $17,520,662.64. The trade was a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 402,081 shares of company stock worth $28,654,426 over the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Coca-Cola

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.