HighTower Advisors LLC Has $167.58 Million Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,331,880 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,175 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.05% of Coca-Cola worth $167,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company's stock worth $6,680,205,000 after buying an additional 11,206,995 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter valued at about $269,382,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the 2nd quarter worth about $188,448,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 7,006.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,478,487 shares of the company's stock worth $178,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,443,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,765,669 shares of the company's stock valued at $486,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,921,241 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cfra reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.14.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Coca-Cola stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.52. 20,911,918 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,595,334. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.61. The firm has a market cap of $273.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.47 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola's payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.