John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Grows Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,081 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 5,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.4% in the first quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Elk River Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Elk River Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. KRS Capital Management LLC grew its position in Coca-Cola by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Somerville Kurt F grew its position in Coca-Cola by 0.8% during the first quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 21,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $3,138,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 375,407 shares of company stock worth $22,795,742 over the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on KO. Barclays boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.09.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:KO opened at $60.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.13. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $51.55 and a one year high of $64.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.56. The stock has a market cap of $259.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.59.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.50% and a net margin of 23.42%. The business had revenue of $10.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.23%.

About Coca-Cola

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.