ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 11,826 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) $KO

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 0.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,334,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,826 shares during the period. CocaCola comprises about 3.5% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $94,404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,508,657,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of CocaCola by 52.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,447,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,398,185,000 after buying an additional 16,383,870 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $642,183,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of CocaCola by 47.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 11,844,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $848,315,000 after buying an additional 3,810,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of CocaCola by 497.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,489,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,548,000 after buying an additional 3,737,646 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 37,396 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $2,584,063.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 209,513 shares in the company, valued at $14,477,348.30. The trade was a 15.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on KO. BNP Paribas reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CocaCola from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $76.00 price target on CocaCola and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group lowered their price target on CocaCola from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.93.

CocaCola Stock Up 0.8%

KO opened at $66.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $68.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.94. CocaCola Company has a twelve month low of $60.62 and a twelve month high of $74.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $286.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.43.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. CocaCola had a return on equity of 44.91% and a net margin of 25.89%.The firm had revenue of $12.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.970-2.970 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 72.34%.

CocaCola 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.