Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 158,142 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 49.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,087 shares of the company’s stock after selling 158,142 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $10,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in Coca-Cola by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 25,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after buying an additional 3,774 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 893,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,610,000 after acquiring an additional 8,810 shares during the last quarter. InvesTrust purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 4th quarter worth $5,463,000. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 80,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,018,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317 shares during the period. Finally, Park National Corp OH increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 465,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,991,000 after purchasing an additional 67,604 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $21,933,220.38. This represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.60.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 1.4 %

KO traded down $0.89 on Friday, hitting $60.82. The company had a trading volume of 5,363,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,062,152. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $57.93 and a 12-month high of $73.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.48. The company has a market cap of $262.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

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.