CocaCola Company (The) $KO Stake Boosted by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 47.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,498 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,242 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $1,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 30,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 6,058 shares in the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 20,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,282,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,720,000 after acquiring an additional 80,736 shares in the last quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 128,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 818,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,912,000 after acquiring an additional 13,826 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of CocaCola in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.31.

CocaCola Stock Up 1.0%

KO stock opened at $69.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.00. CocaCola Company has a 52-week low of $60.62 and a 52-week high of $74.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.43.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. CocaCola had a net margin of 27.34% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The company had revenue of $11.40 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio is 67.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other news, Director Max R. Levchin purchased 7,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $69.87 per share, for a total transaction of $503,483.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,835.29. The trade was a 102.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Monica Howard Douglas sold 13,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.93, for a total transaction of $947,411.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,638,109.25. This represents a 26.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

About CocaCola

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.