The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Shares Sold by Lipe & Dalton

Lipe & Dalton lowered its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KO. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.2% during the third quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 9,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the third quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 14,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the third quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 27,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:KO opened at $71.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.44. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $307.46 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This is an increase from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.54%.

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.