Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Buys 293 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,290 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. REAP Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KO. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on Coca-Cola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.81.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.3%

KO stock opened at $71.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.45. The company has a market cap of $307.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.47. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $60.62 and a twelve month high of $74.38.

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

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is 81.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 55,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total value of $3,941,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,533,008.09. The trade was a 18.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,164 shares of company stock worth $35,671,587 over the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.