Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires 3,148 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 21.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,010 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,148 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its position in Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 21,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 39,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,440,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Finally, Great Diamond Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.47, for a total transaction of $1,806,547.19. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 52,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,749,745.02. This represents a 32.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 have sold a total of 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.24.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:KO opened at $69.16 on Friday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $57.93 and a 1 year high of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $297.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.58.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 82.59%.

Coca-Cola Company 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.