WP Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,866 The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

WP Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $3,016,023,000 after acquiring an additional 8,733,326 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,373,000 after buying an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,479,000 after buying an additional 177,241 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,793,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $847,468,000 after buying an additional 222,028 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,433,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,344,000 after buying an additional 1,417,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.36.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock opened at $61.74 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.54. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $56.70 and a one year high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $265.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Lisa Chang sold 40,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.54, for a total value of $2,804,826.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 74,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,150,619.18. This trade represents a 35.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total value of $7,179,360.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,987,070.92. This represents a 18.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 303,748 shares of company stock valued at $20,677,431. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.