King Luther Capital Management Corp Cuts Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,946,371 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,860 shares during the period. Coca-Cola makes up 1.1% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.09% of Coca-Cola worth $251,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KO. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction of $1,253,987.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were 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 directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $14,507,516.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lisa Chang sold 58,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.51, for a total transaction of $3,981,938.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,074,330.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 974,715 shares of company stock valued at $579,704,927 over the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KO opened at $70.63 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $51.55 and a 1 year high of $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $304.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

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.