Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Sells 5,817 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC lessened its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 217,650 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,817 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $13,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the first quarter worth about $28,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,280,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of Coca-Cola 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KO opened at $70.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $304.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.22. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $51.55 and a one year high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Coca-Cola’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.60%.

Coca-Cola 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.