Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 67,392 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,807,718 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 67,392 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Coca-Cola worth $174,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KO. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company's stock worth $6,664,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966,964 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 74,163,187 shares of the company's stock worth $4,617,400,000 after acquiring an additional 11,569,920 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company's stock worth $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,984,953 shares of the company's stock worth $1,990,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609,565 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $3,882,079.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at $17,520,662.64. The trade was a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 313,423 shares of company stock valued at $22,263,071. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KO traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.34. 12,655,755 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,947,076. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $57.93 and a twelve month high of $73.53. The company has a market cap of $298.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.51.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 is an increase from Coca-Cola's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Coca-Cola's payout ratio is presently 82.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.24.

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.