Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 43,249 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 15.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 325,067 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,249 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $23,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 19,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 29,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 272,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,937,000 after purchasing an additional 25,588 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE KO opened at $69.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $299.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.31 and its 200-day moving average is $68.23. CocaCola Company has a one year low of $60.62 and a one year high of $74.38.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. CocaCola had a return on equity of 45.49% and a net margin of 23.00%. CocaCola’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Cfra Research upgraded CocaCola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on CocaCola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $81.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on CocaCola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.27.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In other CocaCola news, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $19,197,000.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares in the company, valued at $19,884,668.76. This trade represents a 49.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CocaCola 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.