Summit Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Summit Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,324 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 723 shares during the quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 11,138.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,977,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,343,000 after acquiring an additional 4,933,527 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,138,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,501,789,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,618 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,913,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,514,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,664 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,845,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,446,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,963,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 80,448,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,503,484,000 after buying an additional 1,950,146 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KO. Citigroup raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.18.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Coca-Cola stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $62.33. The company had a trading volume of 4,127,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,966,068. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $268.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.21 and its 200-day moving average is $59.04. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $64.25.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.41% and a return on equity of 42.74%. The firm had revenue of $11.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is currently 77.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $3,491,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,594,097.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $13,594,097.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 323,107 shares of company stock valued at $19,657,742. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company 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.