Crowley Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Coca-Cola by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 42,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,665,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 4,340,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,244,000 after buying an additional 191,712 shares during the period. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 602 shares during the period. Finally, Banco de Sabadell S.A raised its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A now owns 38,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,393,000 after buying an additional 3,722 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $68.58 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $295.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $67.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.43. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. Equities analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 82.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on KO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised 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 Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.24.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, COO Henrique Braun sold 25,277 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.47, for a total transaction of $1,806,547.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 52,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,749,745.02. The trade was a 32.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $3,882,079.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,520,662.64. This trade represents a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 in the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola 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.