HM Payson & Co. Grows Position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO)

HM Payson & Co. increased its position in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,682 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $6,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in CocaCola by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 19,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 152,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,520,000 after buying an additional 43,836 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 3,426 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on KO. Cfra Research raised CocaCola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CocaCola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on CocaCola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a report on Monday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.27.

CocaCola Stock Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $71.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.56. The stock has a market cap of $306.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.45. CocaCola Company has a 1 year low of $60.62 and a 1 year high of $74.38.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 81.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CocaCola news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,491,148.92. This trade represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 205,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola 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.