Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Invests $410,000 in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 80,448,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,503,484,000 after buying an additional 1,950,146 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,138,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,501,789,000 after buying an additional 2,464,618 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,913,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,514,234,000 after buying an additional 2,040,664 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,845,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,446,822,000 after buying an additional 1,963,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 13,804,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on KO. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.27.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $62.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,435,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,880,718. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.32 and a 200-day moving average of $59.30. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $51.55 and a twelve month high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $270.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $11.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.74% and a net margin of 23.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $3,551,903.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 167,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,358,962.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 57,298 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $3,551,903.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 167,107 shares in the company, valued at $10,358,962.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 380,405 shares of company stock worth $23,209,645. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Coca-Cola

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.