Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 203,582 shares of the company’s stock after selling 883 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $12,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,016,023,000 after purchasing an additional 8,733,326 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 11,127.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,972,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,043,000 after acquiring an additional 4,928,441 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth about $193,342,000. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,051,000 after acquiring an additional 2,973,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,698,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,924,000 after buying an additional 2,964,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction of $1,253,987.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total value of $1,253,987.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,507,516.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total value of $553,722,575.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,280,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.3 %

KO opened at $71.41 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $307.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.55 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. Coca-Cola’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.73.

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.