Crescent Sterling Ltd. Sells 144 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Crescent Sterling Ltd. cut its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,843 shares of the company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth $2,513,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 848,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,851,000 after acquiring an additional 204,681 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,484,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,767,000 after purchasing an additional 783,161 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 51,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,224,000 after purchasing an additional 23,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter valued at $416,000. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $71.76 on Tuesday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $60.62 and a 12-month high of $74.38. 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 company has a market capitalization of $308.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.68.

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

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,287.99. This represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 60,326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.87, for a total transaction of $4,335,629.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 187,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,491,148.92. This represents a 24.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 415,387 shares of company stock valued at $29,923,985 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Cfra Research raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

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.