Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $15.01 Million in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 197,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,005,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in CocaCola by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CocaCola by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CocaCola during the 1st quarter worth $210,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 450.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 39,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 32,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CocaCola by 548.2% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KO shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CocaCola from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CocaCola from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on CocaCola in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.69.

Insider Activity at CocaCola

In related news, EVP Jennifer K. Mann sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $7,946,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 181,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,412,772.64. This represents a 35.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 31,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.93, for a total transaction of $2,559,411.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,074,096.90. This trade represents a 12.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 899,905 shares of company stock valued at $71,832,315. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

CocaCola Trading Down 0.3%

CocaCola stock opened at $80.38 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.24. CocaCola Company has a 52 week low of $65.35 and a 52 week high of $84.04. The stock has a market cap of $345.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. CocaCola had a net margin of 27.80% and a return on equity of 40.55%. The company had revenue of $12.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.240-3.270 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that CocaCola Company will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. CocaCola’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

About CocaCola

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.