Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,899 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 251 shares during the quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Apella Capital LLC lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.4% during the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. CCG Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.3% in the third quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.2% in the third quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 1.0% during the third quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 15,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KO. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.60.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:KO opened at $61.71 on Thursday. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.47.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Coca-Cola’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.