Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,499 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $5,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth about $3,402,151,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,949,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,553,337,000 after purchasing an additional 12,222,885 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,617,400,000 after purchasing an additional 11,569,920 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $500,192,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.9% during 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 last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total value of $4,335,629.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. The trade was a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 145,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total transaction of $10,327,339.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $24,324,191.46. This trade represents a 29.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 462,407 shares of company stock worth $32,990,056 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

KO opened at $72.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $309.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1-year low of $60.62 and a 1-year high of $74.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.59.

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.