NS Partners Ltd Sells 15,234 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

NS Partners Ltd trimmed its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 469,461 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,234 shares during the period. Coca-Cola accounts for about 1.2% of NS Partners Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. NS Partners Ltd's holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $29,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KO. Rice Partnership LLC boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 102,746 shares of the company's stock worth $6,397,000 after buying an additional 6,793 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 104.9% during the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 116,214 shares of the company's stock worth $8,351,000 after buying an additional 59,503 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 87.7% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 18,189 shares of the company's stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 8,499 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 5.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 850,802 shares of the company's stock worth $61,122,000 after buying an additional 46,541 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company's stock worth $2,271,885,000 after buying an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on KO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.24.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 55,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.01, for a total transaction of $3,941,055.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at $17,533,008.09. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 288,146 shares of company stock worth $20,456,524 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Coca-Cola Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:KO traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $71.00. 28,069,766 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,037,215. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $305.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a boost from Coca-Cola's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Coca-Cola's payout ratio is currently 82.59%.

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.