BNP Paribas Boosts Position in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

BNP Paribas lifted its position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 650,761 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,529 shares during the period. CocaCola accounts for about 1.3% of BNP Paribas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. BNP Paribas’ holdings in CocaCola were worth $43,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CocaCola during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC acquired a new stake in CocaCola during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on KO. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $87.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $88.00 price target on CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CocaCola presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $84.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 23,556 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.50, for a total value of $1,872,702.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,754,735. This trade represents a 9.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 23,880 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $1,847,595.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,371,383.25. The trade was a 57.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 892,925 shares of company stock valued at $70,254,796. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CocaCola Price Performance

Shares of KO opened at $77.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $332.60 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.25. CocaCola Company has a 1-year low of $65.35 and a 1-year high of $82.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.39.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. CocaCola had a return on equity of 41.31% and a net margin of 27.34%.The company had revenue of $11.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.210-3.240 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from CocaCola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.11%.

About CocaCola

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.