Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV Has $1.54 Million Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV lessened its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,736 shares of the company’s stock after selling 214 shares during the quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth $2,513,000. Rice Partnership LLC raised its position in Coca-Cola by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 102,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,397,000 after acquiring an additional 6,793 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Coca-Cola by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 26,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 10,240 shares in the last quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. raised its position in Coca-Cola by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 218,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,634,000 after acquiring an additional 30,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its position in Coca-Cola by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 7,238,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $447,963,000 after acquiring an additional 22,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total transaction of $3,882,079.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 284,469 shares of company stock worth $20,356,667 over the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cfra Research raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.81.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO opened at $71.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $309.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.14 and a 200 day moving average of $67.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $60.62 and a fifty-two week high of $74.38.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its 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 firm 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 quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.60%.

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.