HTLF Bank Purchases Shares of 33,623 The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

HTLF Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 33,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,981,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the first quarter worth about $77,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 16.7% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 12,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,754 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 41.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 149,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,255,000 after purchasing an additional 43,680 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 385.3% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 19,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 15,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 11.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,840,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,115,000 after acquiring an additional 301,804 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,602,980. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sold a total of 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742 in the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Coca-Cola stock traded up $0.62 on Friday, hitting $59.53. The stock had a trading volume of 4,246,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,651,499. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.92 and a 200 day moving average of $58.53. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $51.55 and a twelve month high of $64.99. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $256.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This is an increase from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KO shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.09.

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.