Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 77,580 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 485.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 93,563 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,580 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $6,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after acquiring an additional 11,206,995 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter valued at about $269,382,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 2nd quarter worth about $188,448,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 7,006.8% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,478,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,443,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 39.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,765,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,181,000 after buying an additional 1,921,241 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KO. Truist Financial increased their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.2 %

KO opened at $63.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $273.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $57.47 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

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.