Abacus Planning Group Inc. Buys 1,916 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,082 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $2,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,808,056,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,016,023,000 after buying an additional 8,733,326 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,343,000 after buying an additional 4,933,527 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth approximately $193,342,000. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,032,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,051,000 after buying an additional 2,973,234 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.73.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of KO opened at $72.47 on Friday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $51.55 and a 12 month high of $72.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business had revenue of $12.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast 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 Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 80,891 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.34, for a total transaction of $5,042,744.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 218,880 shares in the company, valued at $13,644,979.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.44, for a total value of $1,224,645.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,168,055.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 80,891 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.34, for a total transaction of $5,042,744.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 218,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,644,979.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,074,910 shares of company stock worth $585,972,318. 0.97% of the stock is owned by 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.