Griffith & Werner Inc. Invests $5.65 Million in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Griffith & Werner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 90,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,646,000. Coca-Cola accounts for 3.7% of Griffith & Werner Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 29,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,831,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Cfra Research raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $3,882,079.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,520,662.64. This represents a 18.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 462,407 shares of company stock valued at $32,990,056 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $71.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.09 and its 200-day moving average is $66.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $309.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $60.62 and a 12-month high of $74.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

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.